6 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE 



graveolens, S. Bip. ; Gymnocarpus fruticosus, Pers. ; Paronychia deser- 

 torum, Boiss. ; ^rua javanica, Juss. ; Heliotropium luteum, Poir. ; 

 Aristida obtusa, Del. Most of these are strictly desert species of con- 

 tinual occurrence in the lower parts of the peninsula, and will seldom again 

 be referred to. In Wady Sudur Farsetia ^gyptiaca, Turr., and Anabasis 

 setifera, Moq., were also obtained. 



The Citrullus bore its ripe fruit, orange-coloured and about the size of 

 a billiard-ball, trailing on the gravel and sand in many places,* The 

 felted ^rua was laden with tassels of wool, the remains of its withered 

 inflorescence ; the variety, with narrower leaves and more rigid habit, 

 occurred later on. Acacia Seyal was a revelation of spinousness whose 

 branches even the camel can only nibble with care. It is a low flat-topped 

 bush, often only 4 or 5 feet high, but with a trunk of considerable 

 thickness. 



A Matthiola, probably M. arabica, Boiss., occurred, and a large 

 cabbage-leaved sticky Hyoscyamus, H. muticus, Linn., with showy yellow 

 and purple-veined flowers, was pointed out to me as the ' Sekkaran,' 

 which the Arabs are said to inhale in their narghilis as an intoxicant. 



The pretty little woolly Reaumuria, with its densely imbricated leaves, 

 was, after much searching, found in blow at last. A wiry, nearly leafless 

 Deverra was in full flower and seed, with a strong but not unpleasant 

 smell of fennel. 



The marked characteristics of these desert plants soon become 

 familiar. They have usually a whitened appearance, which was perhaps 

 somewhat heightened at the season of my visit. This is due to woolli- 

 ness, or scaliness, or some other colouring integument, and is frequently 

 accompanied by heavy odours, succulent or glaucous foliage. Spines, 

 prickles, hooked or clinging hairs are also characteristic, and the whole 

 plant is not unfrequently found to be steeped in a strong viscid exuda- 



* The Arabs use this species (the colocynth) as a purgative. A fruit is split into halves, 

 the seeds scooped out, and the two cavities filled with milk ; after allowing it to stand for 

 some time, the liquid, which has absorbed some of the active principle of the plant, is drunk 

 off. I refer my readers for further valuable information of this nature to an article in the 

 British Medical Journal ol K^t\ ii, 1885, by my friend and companion, Dr. Gordon Hull. 

 I trust he will forgive me for correcting an error into which I unfortunately led him. The 

 plant which he speaks of ' with short succulent jointed segments ' as being very common and 

 used for sore eyes is not Zygophyllum, but Anabasis (Salsola) articulata. 



