46 BOTANY OF SOCOTUA. 



As without Schweinfurth's specimens it would have been impossible to 

 determine this plant, I applied to him for a generic name, and he suggested 

 the local name for the plant which I have adopted, ascribing the genus to 

 Schweinfurth. 



D. socotrana, Schweinf. in Proc. Roy. Soc. Edin. xiii. (1883). Tab. VIII. 



Frutex 10-pedalis ligno odorato ramulisque juvenilibus pubescentibus rectis rigidis, interdum 

 humilis tenuiter et intricato-rarnosus. Folia f— 1£ poll, longa J— | poll, lata, in plantis 

 hurnilibus multo minora vix \ poll, longa, breviter petiolata, ad ramulos laterales con- 

 tractos aggregata, oblonga v. obovato-oblonga apice truncata emarginata v. triangulari- 

 dentata basi cuneata, margine dentato-serrata, puberula; petiolus |-£ poll, longus. 

 Stipulce \ poll, longse subulatae pubescentes persistentes. Flores solitarii pedunculis 

 pubescentibus fere £ poll, longis. Epicalycis lobi lanceolati pubescentes \ poll, longi. 

 Calyx extus dense pubescens tubo £ poll, longo, limbi lobis purpurascentibus ^ poll, longis 

 angustibus fere linearibus ultime reflexis deciduis. Petala oblanceolata obtusa calycis 

 lobis sequilonga basi attenuata intusque glandula villosa instructa calycis tubum inserta. 

 Stamina calyci affixa petalis breviora, filamentis subulatis ; antherae lateraliter dehis- 

 centes. Ovarium pubescens calyce inclusum. Frudus \ poll, longus obcordatus v. late 

 ovatus angulatus dense pubescens atque pilis validis glanduloso-capitatis instructus, 

 carpellorurn maturum marginibus intus dense lanatis. Semina glabra. 



Nom. Vern. Dirachma or Rachman (Schweinf). 



Soeotra. On the slopes of Haghier; not uncommon. B.C.S. nn. 285, 

 344. Schweinf. n. 528. 



Distrib. Endemic. 



The only species of the genus is a sweetly-scented plant, and it presents 

 some variation in the size of leaves and branches. Sometimes it forms very 

 shortly and completely branched plants, on which the leaves are very small, 

 sometimes only a couple of lines in diameter ; and even on the normally 

 developed plants, with longer rigid twigs, one often finds leaves very small and 

 inconspicuous amongst the larger ordinary ones. 



3. OXALIS. 



Oxalis, Linn. Gen. n. 582 ; Benth. et Hook. Gen. PI. i. 276. 



A large genus, with headquarters in South America and south Africa, but 

 including some cosmopolitan weeds. 



O. corniculata, Linn. Sp. 623 ; DC. Prod. i. 692 ; Boiss. Flor. Orient, i. 

 866 ; Oliv. Flor. Trop. Afr. i. 296 ; Edgew. and Hook. fil. in Hook. Flor. Brit. 

 Ind. i. 436 ; Wight Ic. t. 18. 



Soeotra. Common weed. B.C.S. n. 608. 

 Distrib. Cosmopolitan weed. 



