36 BOTANY OF SOCOTRA. 



S'.ilVruticosa inolliter tomeutosa; foliis petiolatis variantibus ab formis linearibus ad ellipticas 

 apice truncatis v. retusis seepe apiculatis, crenato-serratis subtus glanduloso-punctatis ; 

 cyinis biiloris ; bracteolis cordato-reniformibus accresceutibus membranaceis ; capsulorum 

 loculis bispermis ; seminibus inuricatis. 



Suffrutex lignosus ramosissimus. Ram.uli patentes glanduloso-punctati molliter tomentosi. 

 Folia diversiformia 1-1 \ poll, longa }.-^ poll, lata linearia v. ovato-oblonga v. anguste 

 elliptica crenato-serrata, basi 5-nervia apice truucata v. retusa sa3pius apiculata, cano- 

 tomentosa et glandulis fuscis subtus punctata ; petiolus •£-§ poll, longus lamina brevior. 

 Stipulce setaeese. Cymce biflorre axillares ; pedunculis petiolis subaequilongis. Involueri 

 lobi cordato-reniformes transverse latiores accrescentes. Scpala ovato-lanceolata. Petala 

 obovata sepalis vix cequilonga. Staminodia linearia stamina aequantia. Cajisula 5-locularia 

 loculis bispermis. Semina muricata glauca. 



Soeotra. Not uncommon near Galonsir. B.C.S. n. 330. 



Disteib. Endemic. 



This plant I at one time thought would fit in with the specific characters of 

 M. Denhami, K. Br. (in Denh. et Capp. Voy. App. 233), a plant of Arabia and 

 Scindh, which varies much in the size of its parts, and in the number of seeds 

 in each cell of the fruit. But the Socotran plant presents several points of 

 difference, being of much smaller habit, with leaves and branchlets less pro- 

 nouncedly stellate-tomentose and very distinctly gland-dotted on the under side. 

 These brown glands I only find faintly indicated on specimens in Kew 

 Herbarium of M. Denhami. In form of leaf the Socotran plant varies from 

 quite linear to elliptical, and these forms are seen on the half-dozen specimens we 

 have. In none of the examples of M. Denhami is there such extreme variation 

 In the flower, the petals in our plant are more nearly of the same length' as the 

 sepals, and are obovate rather than ovate. The capsule, too, equals in length 

 the sepals, and contains seeds, two in each cell, which are glaucous and muri- 

 cate, not brown and smooth. Boissier (Flor. Orient, i. 841), describing M. 

 hracteosa {Brotera bracteosa, Guill. et Perr. Fl. Seneg. i. 86, t. 17, and M. Kotschyi, 

 Hochst. in herb. Kotsch. Nub. sect. i. n. 219), which is the same plant as M. 

 Denhami, writes of the seeds " punctatis." This feature is in the Arabian and 

 African specimens in Kew Herbarium exceedingly obscure, and not like the 

 strong murication of the Socotran plant. On account of all these differences I 

 have regarded the Socotran plant as specifically distinct from M. Denhami, but 

 it is not far removed, and exploration of the adjacent Arabian shores may 

 discover forms uniting the two. 



© 



Order XV. TILIACE^E. 



A considerable order with a wide dispersion over the globe, chiefly tropical. 

 It is represented in Soeotra by three genera, of which one is entirely old world, 

 another is chiefly old world, but absent from Africa and occurring in the 

 Pacific Islands, and the third is found all over the world, both old and new. 



