800 cxxTiiD. URTiCACE^ (Rendle). \ForsJcohiea. 



obovate or rhomboid, apex obtuse, base cuneate, often very broadly so, 

 and entire, rest of margin crenate-serrate, generally J-1 in. or some- 

 times to 2 in. long, i-lj in. wide, with 1-2 lateral nerves on each 

 side above the basal pair, upper face dark green when dry, hispid, 

 as is the margin, and more or less tomentose, with numerous dotted 

 cystoliths, lower face white-tomentose, nerves more or less con- 

 spicuous and with stiff hairs ; petiole about half the length of the 

 blade, slender, hispid. Stipules ovate, acute, scarious, about 2 lin. 

 long, with stiff hairs on margin and brown midvein. Heads of 

 flowers sessile, 2 or more at each node, sometimes crowded on un- 

 developed lateral branchlets ; involucre 3-5 lin. long, densely 

 clothed almost to the top with silky hairs which are often greenish 

 wlien dry ; bracts generally 4-5, but as few as 2 or as many as 8, 

 lanceolate or oblanceolate, acute, hispid above. Flowers in each 

 head varying greatly in number, males absent from the 2-leaved 

 involucre, otherwise up to 8 or 12 ; female solitary (in the 2-leaved 

 involucre) or up to 6, densely embedded in whitish wool. Male 

 perianth unequally 3-lobed, the median lobe larger, rounded and 

 ciliate with stiflftsh hairs. Fruit ovoid-elliptic, apiculate, reddish- 

 brown.— Wedd. in DC. Prodr. xvi. i. 235^^ ; Boiss. Fl. Orient, iv. 

 1151 ; Schweinf. in Bull. Herb. Boiss. iv. App. ii. 148 ; Hook. f. Fl. 

 Brit. Ind. v. 593 ; Almagia in Ann. Istit. Bot. Boma, viii. 118 ; 

 Deflers, Voy. Yemen, 207 ; Rendle in Tourn. Bot. 1913, 272. Caid- 

 heja ndhcerens, Forsk. Fl. iEgypt.-Arab. 82. 



Nile Land. Red Sea Province : about 21° N. lat., Bent ! Hill slopes, SalLom, 

 MacDougal ds Sykes, 71 ! Jebel Hyrae, 3500 ft., Lyne.s ! Somaliland : Wagga 

 Mountain, Lort-Phillips ! Eritrea : Otoumlo, near Massowa, Schweinfvrth dh 

 Rivu,\95\ Samhar; Monkullo, PiVo«a, 1215 ; Habab ; Ogmat-Obel, Tcrmc- 

 ciano db Pirotta, 1048; Ogb.ct-El-Ain, Terracciano dr Pirotta, 1050; Assaorta ; 

 Majo-Illaiia, 2000 ft., Pirotta, 356G ; Illalia-8cilliki, 1300 ft., Pirotta^ 3600; 

 Zaga-Tata, 050 ft., Pirotta, 2876 ; Arkico, Pirotta, 52 ; Afta, Terracciano dk 

 Pirotta, 19. 



Also in North Africa; and Arabia to N.W. India ; a form (F. co.fsoniano, 

 Webb) in S.E. Spain. 



Var. erythrcea, Terrace, in Ann. Istifc. Bot. Roma, v. 97. Flower^heads in 

 groups of 4 or 5, with an abortive small one ; involucral bracts 6-7, obovate- 

 lanceolate. — Almagia in Ann. Istit. Bot. Roma, viii. 119. 



Nile Land. Eritrea : Haressan Island in Anfila Bay, Terracciano, S'^'^ 



2. F. hereroensis, Schinz in Bull. Herb. Boiss. iv. App. iii. 51. A 

 low hispid undershrub about 1 ft. high ; stem about If lin. in diam. 

 at the base, becoming very slender above, branching from the base 

 upwards ; branches ascending, slender, hairs stiil, upcurved, varying 

 very much in size. Leaves elliptic-ovate, apex generally blunt, 

 base cuneate and narrowing into the petiole, entire, margin sinuate- 

 dentate, inrolled, hispidulous, |-1 in. long, J-f in. wide, pinnately 

 nerved, with a pair of lateral nerves a short distance from the base 

 and one or two above on either side, when dry stiff, with upper face 



