62 BOTANY OF SOCOTRA. 



RHUS. 

 Bhus, Linn. Gen. n. 369 ; Benth. et Hook. Gen. PI. i. 418. 



A large genus of the warmer extra-tropical regions, many species occurring 

 at the Cape, and but few in the tropics. One Socotran species is endemic, but 

 with a near Birmese alliance ; the other is a tropical and south African one. 



1. R. glaucescens, Ach. Rich. Tent. Flor. Abyss, i. 143; Oliv. Flor. Trop. 

 Afr. i. 437. 



Socotra. On the hill slopes. B.C.S. n. 686. 



Disteib. Tropical Africa and Natal. 



We have specimens of a plant, with foliage-leaves only, which appears to be 

 this somewhat variable species. But in this genus identification by foliage is 

 not easy, and the Socotran plant might be some other species, or may, indeed, 

 fall into a Sapindaceous genus. 



2. R. thyrsiflora, Balf. fil. in Proc. Roy. Soc. Edin. xi. (1882), 507. 



Arborea glabra; foliis trifoliolatis v. unifoliolatis, foliolis oblongis v. oblongo-ellipticis v. 

 oblongo-obovatis obtusis integris v. obscure sinuato-lobatis perspicue reticulars ; inflores- 

 centia thyrsoidea ; pedicellis subtilibus floribus lorjgioribus ; sepalis petalis multo brevior- 

 ibns ; disco piano obscure crenato. 



Arbor parva 20-pedalis omnino glabra paniculis subfciliter puberulis exceptis. Folia palmatirn 

 trifoliolata v. unifoliolata ; foliola coriacea ssepe 4£ poll, longa If— 24/ poll, lata sed prope 

 extremitates ramulorum minora, oblonga v. oblongo-elliptica, terminali ruaximo frequenter 

 oblongo-obovato sessili v. petiolato, obtusa integra v. obscure sinuato-lobata basi attenuata 

 nervis plurimis patentibus parallelibus ultime in reticulum perspicuum anastomosantibus ; 

 petiolus f— 1\ poll, longus. Funiculi terminales axillarescjue tbyrsoidei ramosissimi s?epe 

 9 poll, longi late patentes folia longe superantes; pedicelli subtiles floribus triplolongiores. 

 Florcs minuti. Sepala subrotundata interdum subtridentata persistentia sub fructu recur- 

 vata. Fetala £ poll, longa ovata subacuta v. obtusa sepalis triplolongiora. Discus planus 

 obsolete 10-crenatus. Drupce globosas \ poll. diam. 



Nom. Vern. Zoref (B.C.S.). Surif (Schweinf.). 



Socotra. Common on the hill slopes and in the valleys. B.C.S. n. 369. 

 Schweinf. nn. 480, 736. Nimmo. 



Distrib. Endemic. 



This species, which is one of the commonest small trees on Socotra, is, on 

 account of its affinity with a species from northern Birma, of considerable 

 interest. So close indeed is its relationship to R. paniculata, Wall. (Cat. n. 993; 

 Hook fil. Flor. Brit. Ind. ii. 10), from Birma and Yunan, that it is not without 

 some difficulty diagnostic marks are obtained, and these are of such a nature as 

 might in plants of a different geographical distribution be considered hardly suffi- 

 cient to forbid them being regarded as conspecific. The only absolute character 

 wherein the species are separated is the form of the disk. In the Birmese 

 species it is distinctly cup-shaped with a crenately lobed margin, in the Socotran 



