GUM ABABIC. 395 



but explicit. On the other hand, I am informed in a letter 

 lately received from Mr. R. Drummond Hay, H.B.M. Consul 

 at Mogador, who has kindly had inquiries made for me, that 

 the Acacia arabiea (Alk Awarwhal) is not found in Sus, no 

 tree of the kind existing either north or south of the Atlas, but 

 that its gum is brought from Soodan by Arabs, and is of in- 

 ferior quality to that of the Acacia gummifera. Mr. Hay 

 further informs me that the Acacia gummifera grows chiefly 

 in the provinces of Blad Hamar, Rahamma, and Sus. 



As stated above, the specimens which we collected oi Acacia 

 gummifera precisely accord with the published description and 

 drawing ; but we have others under this name from Mr. Cosson's 

 collector, Ibrahim, gathered near Mogador and at Ouanyna, 

 which differ in having very short spines, g to ^ in. long, whilst 

 those of our plant are from ^ to | in. long and much stouter. 



Very small plants of Acacia gummifera are living at Kew, 

 raised from seeds obligingly presented by Mr. Cosson. They 

 gi-ow exceedingly slowly, and several have been lost by damping 

 off. They are not in a state fit for exhibition. 



The Argan Tree. 



Argania Sideroxylon. — Roem. and Sch. Syst. Veg. iv. 502 ; 



Alph. DC. Prod. viii. 187; Hook, in Kew Joum. Bot.vi.(1854) 



97, t. iii. iv. ; De N06, in Rev. Hort. 1853, 125 ; Ball, in Journ. 



Linn. Soc. Bot. xvi. 563. 

 Sideroxylon spinosum. — Linn. Hort. Cliff. 69 (excl. syn. et loc); 



Correa, in Ann. Mus. Hist. Nat. viii. 393. 

 Rhamnus siculus. — Linn. Syst. Nat. ed. 12, iii. 227, excl. syn., 



non Bocc. 

 i?. pentaphyllus. — Linn. Syst. Nat. ed. Gmel. 398, fid. Dryandr. 



excl. syn. Bocc. 

 ElcBodendron Argan. — Retz Obs. Bot. vi. 26; WUld. Sp. PL 



i. 1148, excl. syn. Jacq. and Bocc; Schousboe, lagttag. over 



vsextrig. in Marocc. 89. 

 Argan. — Dryandr. in Trans. Linn. Soc. ii. 225. 



This tree is rightly regarded as the most interesting veget- 

 able production of Marocco, being confined to that empii'e and 

 to a very circumscribed area in it, belonging to an almost exclu- 

 sively tropical natural family, yielding a most important article 



