PHANEROGAMS — PROFESSOR BAYLEY BALFOUR. 13 



occurs in Australia. The name was derived by Forskal from the Arabic 

 vernacular name for one of the species. Possibly the village Kadhab on the 

 northern shores of Socotra takes its name from a species of the genus growing 

 abundantly on the plain in its vicinity. Both Socotran species are plants of the 

 dry sandy region of the vicinity of the Red Sea. 



1. C. rotundifolia, Forsk. Fl. ^Egypt. Arab. 68 ; DC. Prod. i. 244 ; 

 Boiss. Flor. Orient, i. 418 (notul. ad spec. C. glandulosa, Forsk.) ; Oliv. Flor. 

 Trop. Afr. i. 89. 



C. glandulosa, var. glabrior, Thorns, ms. in Herb. Kew. 

 Strcemia rotundifolia, Vahl Symb. i. 20. 



Socotra. On the hill slopes near Galonsir. B.C.S. n. 322. 



Distrib. Nile Land. 



The specimens from Socotra referred to this species have no flower, but 

 they are identical with plants in Kew Herbarium, collected at Aden by 

 Thomson, and named by him as a variety "glabrior" of C. glandulosa, Forsk. 

 Oliver (loc. cit.) in a note to description of C. glandulosa, which is typically 

 "glandular pilose with short spreading viscid hairs" and iu such form occurs 

 at Aden, referring to Thomson's Aden specimens, says, — " a slightly scabrid or 

 nearly glabrous variety occurs at Aden." 



An examination of Thomson's specimens, which have flower but no fruit, 

 has convinced me that it is not a variety of C. glandulosa. In addition to the 

 distinction derivable from the clothing, the very constant retuse form of the 

 leaves, and above all the floral characters — filaments of stamens adnate to the 

 gynophore through a considerable extent, and ovary one-celled with two opposite 

 placentas — separate it from C. glandulosa, and bring it near C. rotundifolia, 

 Forsk. I say bring it near this species, for the leaves in Thomson's as well as 

 in our Socotran plants are considerably smaller (not exceeding f inch in 

 diameter), and have shorter petioles than those of Forskal's type from Arabia and 

 Nile Land. Aden is one of the stations for the type C. rotundifolia. It was 

 first found there in 1873, by Oliver and Cleave, and their specimens have been 

 ticketed in Kew Herbarium as variety " glabrior " of C. glandulosa. We also 

 found the type at Aden. But I have seen no specimens like those of Thomson 

 brought by any other collector from Aden. 



Although, then, the Socotran, and Thomson's Aden specimens do not conform 

 exactly with the specific characters of either species, it appears to me that they 

 are much more nearly allied to C. rotundifolia than to C. glandulosa, and I am 

 indeed unable from the specimens to determine any good character by which 

 to separate them from the former somewhat variable species. It may be, how- 

 ever, that we are dealing with a distinct species. 



