129 DOREMA AUCHERI 



apex elongated, acute, doubled over on the petal ; stamens spread- 

 ing, filaments more than twice as long as the globose anthers, 

 epigynous ; ovary inferior, quite smooth, nearly circular on section, 

 the edges of the component carpels somewhat prominent, epigynous 

 disc large, projecting considerably beyond the top of the ovary, 

 conical, lobect at the margin, styles tapering, slightly spreading. 

 Barren flowers : petals considerably smaller, ovary and styles 

 entirely absent, disc smaller, flat, lobed, filaments shorter, anthers 

 as in the hermaphrodite flowers. Fruit | inch long, by about 

 ~ wide, on longish divaricate stalks, oblong-oval in outline, 

 brownish or greyish-yellow with pale ribs, styles persistent, reflexed, 

 mericarps much dor sally compressed, pericarp very thin and 

 papery, readily separating from the seed, commissure very nearly 

 flat, dorsal and intermediate primary ribs filiform, faintly marked, 

 lateral ones thickened, forming a narrow sharp border to the 

 mericarp, vittse quite absent. 



D. robustum, Loftus, is referred by Boissier to this species. 

 The fruit (which is all the material in the British Museum) is 

 considerably larger than that of D. Aucheri, pale orange-coloured, 

 with more prominent ribs, and without the reflexed style, but is 

 otherwise similar. The gum bears no similarity to Ammo- 

 niacum. 



Habitat. This species of Dorema appears to have a wide range 

 in the western provinces of Persia and the neighbourhood of 

 Ispahan. Our knowledge of it is mainly, from the description of 

 Boissier, but the large series of excellent specimens brought home 

 by Mr. W. K. Loftus, who collected them in 1851-52, has 

 enabled us to considerably supplement Boissier' s account. Were 

 it not for the complete absence of vittae in the commissure the 

 plant of Loftus would fall under D. glabrum, F. & M., as the 

 leaves are almost always glabrous, but the character is one of but 

 slight importance, and the species might be, perhaps-, combined. 

 The peculiar polygamy of the flowers has been not previously 

 observed in the genus ; the great masses of many hundred 

 umbels in the barren inflorescence must give the plant a 

 very characteristic appearance. Loftus gives no information in 



