PHANEROGAMS— PROFESSOR BAYLEY BALFOUR, 11 



3. M^ERUA, 



Mcerua, Forsk. Fl. ^Egypt. Arab. 104 ; Benth. et Hook. Gen. PI. i. 10& 



A small genus of shrubby plants or small trees found across tropical Africa, 

 extending to the Cape ; also spread eastwards through Arabia to India and in the 

 islands of the Indian Ocean. 



M. angolensis, DC. Prod. i. 254 j Oliv. Flor. Trop. Afr. i. 87, var. 

 SOCOtrana, Schweinf. in Proc. Roy. Soc. Edin. xiii. (1883). 



Arbor mediocris vel frutex ramis effuso-dependentibus dense Miosis ; foliis tenuiter carnosulis 

 vel (perennantibus) crassis suberosis, petiolo duplo vel ad J lamina breviore flaccido haud 

 recurvo, lamina basi cuneata ovali-obovata v. oblongo-lineari ad apicem rotundata v. 

 emarginata semper mucronata ; floribus paucis mediocribus apetalis ; fruct. ignot. 



Nom. Vern. Eschab. 'Eschab. Eshaib. (Wellst.) 



Socotra. On the hills and plains, B.C.S. nn. 193, 588. Schweinf. nn. 

 251, 457, 603. 



Distrib. Abyssinia % 



Schweinfurth, whose description I have quoted above, thus writes : — " differt 

 a M. angolensis Nubian et Africae septentrionalis orientalis, in foliis creberrimis 

 semper cuneatis nunquam acutis obsoletius nervosis, nervis secundariis 

 basalibus ad marginem longius decurrentibus, petiolo apice minus incrassato 

 nunquam inflexo, floribus plus duplominoribus 3-4 ad apices ramorum." 



As found on Socotra by Schweinfurth, this plant is variable. He has three 

 sets of specimens :■ — 



«. n. 603. From the Wadi Digal, at an elevation of about 2500 feet. A 

 lofty shrub with pendant branches. This is called Eschab. 



(3. n. 457. From Keregnigiti. A weeping shrub with narrow leaves. No 

 flowers found. 



y. n. 251. " From the plains at Galonsir. A small tree with pendant 

 branches and long virgate polystichous fleshy leaves, in shape like those of n. 

 603, but with shorter petioles. On the young branches occur slender petioled 

 thin leaves. This is called 'Eschab, in Arabic ' Seob,' a name applied on the 

 shores of the Red Sea to Mcerua uniflora, Vahl,. and perhaps to all Mseruas." 



All these Schweinfurth regards as forms of one species, which he takes to be 

 distinct from M. angolensis, DC, but for the present lie is content to describe 

 them as a variety of that species, because without fruit a true diagnosis is 

 impossible. 



We obtained two Mseruas of different aspect on the island. One, (n. 588), 

 not uncommon on the hills, is a weeping form, with leaves cuneate at the base, 

 and corresponds with Schweinfurth's n. 603, (I agree with him in regarding 

 his n. 603 as identical with n. 457.) Onr other plant, (n. 193), is a small tree 

 from the plains, with pendulous branches and close-set short-petioled fleshy 



