PHANEROGAMS — PROFESSOR BAY/LEY BALFOUR. 35 



S. abyssinica, R. Br. PI. Jav. Ear. 227 pro parte ; T. Anders, in Journ. Linn. Soc. v. (1860), 

 Suppl. 9, t. 2, b. 



Nom. Vern. Boheng. Bohain (Wellst.). 



Socotra. Common on the hills. B.C.S. n. 470. Schweinf. n. 758. 



Distrib. East tropical Africa. 



The Socotran specimens differ somewhat from the typical Abyssinian and 

 Mozambique plant. The leaves are sharply five cleft with acuminate lobes, 

 not rounded and three-lobed, and they are much larger than in type specimens, 

 attaining sometimes a diameter of six inches. Again, the down on the flower 

 panicles is not so coarse, but forms a somewhat velvety coating, both to the . 

 pedicels and also on the sepals themselves. Ln descriptions of the type, the 

 calyx is said to be cleft into lobes through less than half its length, and Ander- 

 son's figure represents this. Now in our plant the cleaving extends deeper, to 

 fully three-quarters of the length of the calyx, and on some Zambesi specimens, 

 in Kew Herbarium, I find calyces equally deeply cleft. The follicles in the 

 Socotra plant vary from two to five, and are somewhat larger than those in 

 Kew Herbarium attached to the Mozambique plant, the S. ipomcecefolia, 

 Garcke (in Peters Mossamb. 130), which is, as T. Anderson points out, unques- 

 tionably the S. Triphaca of Brown. The differences I have detailed are not 

 sufficient to warrant a specific distinction being drawn, and there are in Kew 

 Herbarium several specimens of the genus (as yet undetermined) from the 

 African coast, which may well supply links to fill the small gaps at present 

 observable between this insular and the continental forms. 



The confusion that has arisen between S. arabica, T. Anders., S. abyssinica, 

 R. Br., and S. Triphaca, R. Br., has been clearly explained by T. Anderson in 

 his Aden Flora, which may be consulted on this point. 



The Boheng or Bohain tree is a large one, attaining on Socotra often 30 

 feet in height. It is very abundant on the Haghier hills behind Tamarida. 

 We did not obtain either flowers or fruit, but Schweinfurth was fortunate in 

 getting both in May 1881, which have enabled an identification to be made. 



Wellsted (in Journ. Roy. Geog. Soc. v. (1835), 199), writes of the tree : 

 " The Bohain tree is scarcely inferior in size to the Ukshare " (Odina ornifolia, 

 Balf. fil.), " it has a broad leaf resembling the English sycamore, of which the 

 camels and sheep are very fond. 



2. MELHANIA. 



Melhania, Forsk. Fl. ^gypt Arab. 64; Benth. et Hook. Gen. PL i. 222. 



A small genus of shrubs and under-shrubs growing in Africa, warmer Asia, 

 and in Australia, but most abundant in Africa. 



M. muricata, Balf. fil. in Proc. Roy. Soc. Edin. xi. (1882), 503. Tab. 

 VII., A. 



