2 BOTANY OF SOCOTRA. 



2. C. Balfourii, Schweinf. inProc. Roy. Soc. Edin. xi. (1882), 500. Tab. I. 



Dumetosus, cladodiferus, spinosus ; foliis eH'iptico-oblongis v. subobovatis breviter petiolatis mox 

 deciduis ; iioribus subsessilibus iu brevissinie-pedunculatas cyinas coufertis; fl. ?: — 

 staminodiis senis. 



Frutex deuse virgatus lignosus dumetosus cum ramis foliosis et cladodiis ; rami juveniles foliosi 

 elongati quadranguli, seniores subteretes angulati v. compressi et saepe demum spinosi 

 striati cano-pubescentes v. canescentes primum cladodiferi cladodiis extra-axillaribus folia 

 superpositis deinde ex axillis infra cladodia duos (rarius unicum) superpositos foliosos 

 ramulos emittentes ; cladodia falcata rigida lignosa pubescentia striata apice spinosa 1^- 

 3% poll, longa £-§ poll, lata irregulariter a latere margineve ramosa seniperque 

 cladodia ne ramos foliosos gerentia. Folia vera §-§ poll, longa %-\ poll, lata breviter 

 petiolata moxdecidua elliptico-oblonga v. subobovata ssepe obliqua, apice truncata v. retusa 

 apiculata, margiue revoluta, coriacea nitida uervis pilis adpressis subtiliter instructis, 

 petiolo j 1 ^ poll, longo : folia cladodalia minuta inconspicua decidua. Florcs a cladodiis 

 rarius a ramis incerte orientes subsessiles in fasciculos parvos conferti. Bractcce minut?e 

 squamiformes pilosa?. Flos$ ut in genere. Flos ? -.—Staminodia 6 petalls breviora. Styli 

 reflexi. Drupce reniformes subglabrse dorsaliter transverse rugosse \ poll, longie; endocar- 

 pium lignosum. 



Nom. Vekn. Kiomlian. (B.C.S.) 



Soeotra. Abundant on the Haghier hills at an elevation of over 2000 

 feet. B.C.S. n. 439. Schweinf. n. 754. 



Distrib. Endemic. 



One of the most remarkable discoveries of our expedition. When first I 

 obtained it, with neither flower nor fruit, on the top of Sicante, south from 

 Tamarida, I took it to be a plant of a Gymnospermous type. Subsequently I 

 gathered it plentifully, in flower only, near Adho Dimellus pass, but was 

 unable to determine its affinity, and it was with considerable surprise I made 

 it out, on examination in this country, to be a Menisperm. Its exact position 

 seemed doubtful, and I was inclined to make it the type of a new genus. 

 Fortunately Schweinf urth obtained a quantity of fruit, and has thus been able 

 to refer it to the genus Cocculus, and his nomenclature is retained. 



It is a strange species. C. laurifolius, DC. (Prod. i. 100), a plant of India 

 and the Eastern Archipelago, is the only arboreous form known in the family, 

 and, with the exception of a few low herbaceous Cissampeli, all the other species 

 are climbers. But in our Socotran plant we have a hard-wooded shrub, growing, 

 as a dense thicket, like our common gorse, and forming with its sharp-pointed 

 cladodes a complete chemax defrise. 



The floral and fruit characters admit of no doubt as to its true position 

 in this genus. 



Possessing both cladodes and ordinary leafy branches, an interesting feature 

 in the morphology of the plant is the succession of these. Young branchlets 

 bear cladodes only, and these do not arise in the axils of the leaves, but at a 

 little distance above, and at a later period, in the second or third year of growth, 



