40 BOTANY OF SOCOTRA. 



A very curious species, quite distinct from all others. At first one would 

 hardly recognise it as belonging to this genus, but it only varies from the generic 

 character in the long style and delicate herb-like habit. Its nearer allies are 

 found in two Cape species, C. asplenifolius, Burch. (Harv. and Sond. Flor. Cap. 

 i. 229), a woody plant with glabrous shortly stalked crenate-serrate leaves and 

 long linear capsules, and C. servcefolins, Burch. (Harv. and Sond., loc. cit), which 

 in habit resembles the last-mentioned and has six-valved muricate capsules. 

 Like so many plants of sandy desert spots this species is slightly variable. In 

 some examples the leaves are very longly petiolate and almost entire, whilst in 

 others they are deeply cleft with narrow laciniaB. It is a very common plant on 

 the plains, with its leaves spread out in a rosette and studded with yellow 

 flowers. The peduncles in fruit are always recurved, and thus bury the fruit in 

 the sand beneath the^bases of the leaf stalks. This is one of the plants brought 

 from Socotra by Boivin, and now in the Museum of Natural History at Paris. 



o. 



ELiEOCAKPUS. 



Elccocarpus, Linn. Gen. n. 663 ; Benth. et Hook. Gen. PI. i. 239. 



A considerable genus of the old world tropics, the South Pacific, and 

 Australia ; absent from Africa, but two or three species occur in Madagascar 

 and the Mascarene Islands. 



E. transultus, Balf. fil. in Proc. Roy. Soc. Edin. xi. (1882), 504. 



Arbor alta resinifera ramis terminalibus crassis cicatricosis ; foliis versus apices • rainorum 

 aggregatis lanceolatis elongatis apice basique angustatis obtusis integris subundulatis stib- 

 obliquis fere 6 poll, longis 2 poll, latis breviter petiolatis sparsim stellatim-tomentosis subtns 

 pallidioribus venulis piominulis, petiolo dense tomentoso -f.j~^ P°H- l° n S° 5 stipulis ovatis 

 caducis; floribus ignotis ; racemis fructiferis If -2 poll, longis paucicarpicis/pedicellis \ 

 poll, longis ; drupis ellipticis \ poll, longis glabris, pyrenis bilocellatis extus tuberculatis. 



Nom Vern. Kenhar (B.C.S.). 



Socotra. On the hills about Galonsir and Tamarida. B.C.S. nn. 267, 

 409. 



Distkib. Endemic. 



Our specimens of this plant are unfortunately imperfect, and do not admit 

 of a complete description being given, but the fruiting racemes permit of no 

 doubt as to the identification of the plant as a member of this genus. It is 

 quite a distinct species, falling into the Dicera group, amongst the members of 

 which, however, it is not usual to find the leaves aggregated at the ends of the 

 branches as in our plant. 



It is interesting to obtain a representative of this genus in Socotra, as it 

 connects its Indian distribution with that in the Mascarene Islands and 

 Madagascar. It is worthy of note that the genus is not African. 



