74 BOTANY OF SOCOTEA. 



inch or more long. If this be so, the species exhibits variation in foliage 

 similar to that we have described in Crotalaria strigulosa, Balf. fil. (seepage 66). 



2. I. cordifolia, Roth. Nov. Spec. 357 ; DC. Prod. ii. 222 ; Baker in Oliv. 

 Flor. Trop. Afr. ii. 72, and in Hook. Flor. Brit. Ind. ii. 93. 



Socotra. Common. B.C.S. n. 672. Schweinf. n. 272. 

 Distrib. From Nile Land through south-west Asia to the Malay Islands 

 and north Australia. 



3. I. paucifolia, DelileFlor. Egypt. 107, t. 37, ff. 2,2'; DC. Prod. ii. 224 j 

 Baker in Oliv. Flor. Trop. Afr. ii. 88', and in Hook. Flor. Brit. Ind. ii. 97 ; Boiss. 

 Flor. Orient, ii. 190 ; Wight Ic. t. 331. 



Socotra. About Galonsir and elsewhere. B.C.S. n. 673. 



Distrib. Tropical Africa, Arabia, and through south-west Asia to Java. 



4. I. intricata, Boiss. Flor. Orient, ii. 190. 

 Nom. Vern. Sideri (Schweinf.). 



Socotra. Very abundant on the plains, especially on Habidu plain. 

 B.C.S. n. 107. Schweinf. n. 298. 



Distrib. Arabia, Persia. 



Our plant differs slightly from Boissier's Arabian and Persian types, as 

 represented in Kew Herbarium from Aucher Eloy's collections, in having the 

 leaves on young shoots unifoliolate and linear, reaching as much as T 5 Y inch long, 

 and the pod is somewhat larger, sometimes § inch long. Boissier describes 

 the pedicels as exceeding the leaves. In our specimens the pedicels are shorter 

 than the leaves. 



The plant is said to be abundant about Mascate. It is a thoroughly desert 

 species, being hard-wooded, much branched, and twiggy, sometimes almost 

 spinose, and covered with a greyish- white indumentum. In Socotra the small 

 dwarf bushes studding the plains at wonderfully regular intervals give a peculiar 

 appearance to the landscape. 



The nearest ally to this species is /. spinosa, Forsk., another Arabian form 

 occurring also in India, Abyssinia, and Egypt. 



5. I. leptocarpa, Hochst. et Steud. in herb. Schimp. Arab. n. 771 (nom. 

 sol.) ; Balf. fil. in Proc. Roy. Soc. Edin. xi. (1882), 510. 



Socotra. On the limestone plains ; not common. B.C.S. n. 674. 

 Schweinf. n. 389. 



Distrib. Arabia, Nubia. 



The plant is not a conspicuous one, and the Socotran forms are rather 

 more woody and rigid than the Arabian type. It is a thoroughly desert 

 form. Schweinfurth informs me he has collected the plant in Nubia. 



