PHANEROGAMS — PROFESSOR BAYLEY BALFOUR. 103 



jectured to be either Asiatic or African, and upon the whole, though referable 

 to none of the sixty sections of the genus founded by Klotzsch and De 

 Candolle, it must, I think, be placed in the African one of Augustia, from the 

 character of which it differs chiefly in the male perianth having four segments, 

 in the shorter filaments, rounded top of the anther, in the six lobes of the 

 female perianth (instead of five), and the intwisted arms of the style — characters 

 all of which, except the last, occur in the Natal B. geranioides, Hook. fil. 

 (Mag. t. 5583), to which B. soeotrana is unquestionably closely allied." 



This plant is remarkable in the genus as being bulbiferous, and from the 

 bulbs is easily propagated. These are quite different from the tubers of the well- 

 known tuberous Begonias, and for an account of their structure see Appendix. 



Order XXXII. FICOIDE^E. 



A considerable tropical order. Of the five genera represented in Socotra, 

 two are found all over the world in the tropics, two have a more limited old 

 world distribution, and the fifth is a genus of sub-tropical regions and shore 

 districts, attaining a maximum in south Africa. 



1. TETRAGONIA. 



Tetragonia, Linn. Gen. n. 627 ; Benth. et Hook. Gen. PL i. 854. 



A small genus, with a general range over the sub-tropical regions of the 

 world, but attaining a maximum in south Africa. Only one species is known 

 from tropical Africa, and there are none from the adjacent Asiatic coasts. 



T. pentaildra, Balf. fil. in Proc. Roy. Soc. Edin. xiii. (1883). 



Herba glabra ramis longe patentibus ; foliis deltoideo-ovatis remotis; floribus binis axillaribus; 

 staminibus quot tot calycis lobis ; nucumento pentagono obconoideo. 



Herbacea prostrata a collo ramosa, ramis tenuibus late patentibus sparse versus extremitates 

 ramentaceis. Folia remota longe petiolata \\- 1-J poll, longa J— § poll, lata v. majora ovata 

 v. deltoideo-ovata obtusa basi abrupte contracta in petiolum \— \ poll, longum rnembranacea 

 viridia. Flores rninuti bini in axillis subsessiles. Calycis lobi sequales 5 oblongi obtusi 

 subincurvi glabri margine membranacei. Stamina 5 filamentis subulatis ; antberse ellipt- 

 icae. Styli 3 calyci sequilongi. Fructus obconoideus truncatus pentagonus apice convexus 

 j^poll.longusl-locularisl-spermuSjpericarpiocoriaceoglabro. »Seme?i aitidum testa foveolata. 



Socotra. Near Galonsir. B.C.S. n. 37. 



Distrib. Endemic. 



Quite a distinct species of this genus, being distinguished from the majority 

 of species by the small number of stamens, and from all by its small, obconoid, 

 smooth, almost sessile fruits. With the south African T. microptera, Fenzl. 

 (ex Harv. and Soncl. Flor. Cap. ii. 455), and T. echinata, Ait. (Hort. Kew. ii. 

 177), it has probably nearest affinity, but the fruits are quite diagnostic. 



