70 BOTANY OF SOCOTRA. 



M. minima, Lamk. Diet. iii. 636 ; DC. Prod. ii. 178 ; Baker in Oliv. Flor. 

 Trop. Afr. ii. 51, and in Hook. Flor. Brit. Ind. ii. 91 ; Boiss. Flor. Orient, ii. 

 103 ; Syme Eng. Bot. t. 340. 



Socotra. Common. B.C.S. n. 667. 



Distrib. Europe and west Asia, extending to Abyssinia and to Afghanistan 

 and Kashmir. 



M. laciniata, All. Flor. Peel i. 316 ; DC. Prod. ii. 180 ; Baker in Oliv. 

 Flor. Trop. Afr. ii. 51, and in Hook. Flor. Brit. Ind. ii. 90 ; Boiss. Flor. Orient, 

 ii. 104. 



Socotra. On sandy plains. B.C.S. n. 668. 



Distrib. From the Canary Islands and Mediterranean region eastwards to 

 Beloochistan, in Abyssinia, and at the Cape. 



5. MELILOTUS. 



Mclilotus, Juss. Gen. 356 ; Benth. et Hook. Gen. PI. i. 487. 



A small genus of temperate and subtropical regions in the northern hemi- 

 sphere of the old world Some forms are now cosmopolitan weeds. 



M. parviflora, Desf. Atl. ii. 192 ; DC. Prod. ii. 187 ; Baker in Oliv. Flor. 

 Trop. Afr. ii. 52, and in Hook. Flor. Brit. Ind. ii. 89 ; Boiss. Flor. Orient, ii. 108. 



Socotra. Common. B.C.S. n. 351. 

 Distrib. A common tropical weed. 



6. LOTUS. 



Lotm, Linn. Gen. n. 897 ; Benth. et Hook. Gen. PI. i. 490. 



A genus widely spread in the temperate zones and upon mountains in tropi- 

 cal regions of both hemispheres. Of the three representatives in Socotra, one is 

 an African and south-west Asiatic species, the other two are endemic, and are 

 interesting in connection with the constitution of the genus. 



The two endemic species are L. ononopsis and L. mollis. Their affinity is 

 with£. Garcini, DC. (Prod. ii. 212; Baker in Oliv. Flor. Trop. Afr. ii. 63), a plant 

 of Nile Land, Persia, and Scindh ; but from it there is in each case considerable 

 specific difference. All three species occupy an exceptional position in the genus 

 Lotus. Whilst possessing the habit and the majority of Lotoid characters, in 

 their leaves and their anthers they diverge from the type of Lotus and approach 

 Ononis, from which, however, their inflorescence, diadelphy, and the absence of 

 stipules separate them. 



Jaubert and Spach (111. PI. Orient, i. 96) describe and figure a plant from 

 Persia as Ononis Aucherii, creating for it at the same time a sub-genus, Lotopsis, 

 characterised by the solitary axillary flowers, and by the absence of stipules. 



