PHANEROGAMS— PROFESSOR BAYLEY BALFOUR. 63 



plant it is flat with an obscurely crenate edge. There are other minor points in 

 which differences obtain ; thus, the leaves of the Socotran plant are often uni- 

 foliolate, the leaflet being petiolecl, when they are trifoliolate the odd leaflet is, as a 

 rule, sessile or nearly so, though in some specimens it becomes distinctly 

 petiolate, and all the leaflets are rounded and obtuse at the apex. Now in R. 

 paniculata the leaves appear to be always trifoliolate, with a petioled odd leaflet, 

 and they are generally broadly acute. Again, R. thyrsiflora has long, much 

 branched, spreading inflorescences, with slender terminal pedicels, which are 

 always longer than the flower and the fruit, In the Birmese plant, on the 

 other hand, the panicle is not so greatly branched, and the flowers are somewhat 

 crowded on shorter pedicels at the ends of the branches, the pedicels being 

 shorter or about the same length as the fruit. 



It is such a far cry to northern Birma from Socotra, that it is hard to believe 

 that the plants in the two regions are conspecific. Possibly future investigation 

 of the mainland adjacent to Socotra may lead to the discovery of connecting 

 links, which will enable us to unite the two. 



A plant from Nimmo, with the customary label " Red Sea," is in Kew Her- 

 barium, and is referred to by Oliver (Flor. Trop. Afr. i. 438) under and as allied 

 to R. glaucescens, Ach. Eich., but there is no question as to its being the Socotran 

 species. 



ODINA. 



Odina, Roxb. Fl. Ind. ii. 293 ; Benth. et Hook. Gen. PL i. 423. 



A genus of some fifteen species of trees, often producing gum-resin, a few 

 being natives of India, the others inhabiting tropical and subtropical Africa. 

 Both Socotran species are endemic. 



1. O. ornifolia, Balf. fil. in Proc. Roy. Soc. Edin. xi. (1882), 507. 



Arborea ramis pubescenti-velutinis ; foliis magnis 5-7-foliolatis, foliolis ovatis obliquis subcus- 

 pidatis sessilibus v. subsessilibus velutinis ; racemis vix ramosis axillaribus sub fructu 

 foliis sequilongis, pedicellis brevibus ; calyce 4-partito persistente ; fructu globoso velutino- 

 pubescente. 



Arbor 50-pedalis cortice exfoliante. Rami ad extremitates rugosi, juveniles pilis simplicibus 

 fusco-velutini. Folia 8-9 poll, longa velutina 5-7-foliata ; foliola 2-2f poll, longa l£-lf 

 poll, lata sessilia v. subsessilia ovata v. oblongo-ovata basi rotundata v. subcordata apice 

 subcuspidata v. abrupte subacuminata margine integra subrevoluta, foliolo terminali ssepe 

 oblongo v. obovato basi cuneato. Racemi fructiferi axillares solitarii 8-9 poll, longi sub- 

 recurvi fusco-velutini ramulis lateralibus brevibus 1-3-floris ; pedicelli fructus vix ^ poll, 

 longi crassi. Calyx sub fructu persistens 4-lobatus, lobis ovato-acutis pubescentibus. 

 Fructus globosus £-£ poll, longus pubescens aurantiacus, stylis non persistentibus. 



Nom. Vern. Uksha (B.C.S.). Eksche (Schweiuf.). Ukshare (Wellst). 

 Socotra. A not uncommon tree. B.C.S. n. 276. Schweinf. n. 504. 



