Euphorbia,] cxxii. EUPHORBiACEiE (brown). 565 



Ehrenb. U. infesta^ Pax in Engl. Jahrb. xxxiv. 80. E. sp., Courbon 

 in Ann. Sc. Nat. 4me ser. xviii. 149. 



Nile Iiand. Nubia: Uaratab Mountain, near Suakin, Schiceinfurth, 840! 

 Clior Sseterra, south of Suakin, Schiveinfurth, 841 ! Olao, Johnston, 9 I Eritrea : 

 lias Gerar, Beccari! Howakel Island, Ehrenherg ! Dessi Island, Schiveinfurth ! 

 Coiu-hoH. Near Massowu, Schiveinfurth, 87, 1781 ; Saati, Schiveinfurth, 81 (all ex 

 Schiveinfurth). Somaliland: Dsida,h, Ellenbeck, lb7 I 



E. infesta, Pax, is described from a specimen preserved in fluid, wliich retains it* 

 original size and form, but is not in any way distinct from E. triaculeata. 



Var. triacantha, N. E. Br. Brandies 2-2^ lin. thick when dried ; spines rather 

 more slender than in the type. Involucres 1^ lin. in diam. Otherwise as in the type 

 and apparently passing into it. — E. triacantha^ Ehrenb. ex Boiss. in DC. Prodr. xv. ii. 

 85; Schweinfurth, Beitr. Fl. Aethiop. 36; Terrace, in Ann. Istit. liot. Boma, v. 9S ; 

 Berger, Sukk. Euphorb. 88. E. Fauroti, Franchet in Morot, Juurn. de Bot. i. 135; 

 Pax in Engl. Jahrb. xxxiv. 79. 



Nile Xiand. Eritrea: Toalut Island, Ehrenherg! various islands in Hamtila 

 Buy, Terracciano. Obock : DuUul; on the sea-shore and in tlie valley, Ruth! on 

 rocks near Obock, Faurot. 



In Ann. Istit. Bot, Iloma, v. 98, Terracciano quotes specimens collected on the 

 islands in Hamtila Bay, Eritrea, iind Pax in vol. vi. 186, quotes speciuiens collected 

 by Bobecchi and by Riva in iSomaliland, but some of these may belong to typical 

 E. triaculeata ; I have not seen them. 



120. E. monacantha. Pax in Engl. Jalirh, xxxiii. 285 and xxxiv. 

 Go. A Diuch-branched leafless very spiny succulent 4-S in. high. Stems 

 or branches \-\ in. thick when dried, apparently cylindric, with several 

 spiral series of tubercles or several tuberculate angles, each tubercle 

 bearing 1 spreading grey spine \-\ in. long, with or without a pair of 

 small or minute prickles \-\ lin. long at its base, on a more or less 

 3-lobed shortly decurrent horny grey shield. Leaves very rudimentary, 

 scale-like, soon deciduous. Involucres 3 together in the axils of the 

 shields, sessile or on peduncles \-\ lin. long, bearing a pair of oblong or 

 ovate toothed bracts at their apex, cup-shaped, IJ-lJ lin. in diam., 

 yellow, with 5 glands and 5 large broadly cuneate or cuneate-obovate 

 fringed lobes ; glands variable, contiguous or separated, sometimes even 

 on the same involucre, \-\ lin. in their greater diam., varying from 

 subcjuadrate to transversely oblong, somewhat undulating, from the side 

 margins being recurved. Ovary sessile or shortly pedicellate, perhaps 

 exserted in fruit, glabrous ; styles about 1 lin. long, united for \-\ their 

 length, slender, with more or less thickened entire tips. — E. triacantha^ 

 Pax in Ann. Istit. Bot. Roma, vi. 186, not of Ehrenberg. E. xylacantha^ 

 Pax in Engl. Jahrb. xxxiv. 79. 



Nile Iiand. Gallaland: Arussi Country, at Gorobube, Ellenleck, 19741 

 Somaliland: between Berbera and Harar without precise locality, Ruspoli Sf liiva, 

 31 ! 354 ! and 324 ex Fax. 



Dr. Pax has founded two species upon this plant and placed them in two different 

 groups, characterised by the presence or absence of the pair of small prickles at the 

 base of the spine ; but as in nearly all the species having these prickles (which are 

 really the stipules of the rudimentary leaves), they are sometimes well developed, 

 sometimes reduced to almost imperceptible points, there is no specific distinction. 



