116 BOTANY OF SOCOTRA. 



Socotra. Not uncommon on the hill slopes. B.C.S. n. 381. Schweinf. 

 nn. 469, 625. 



Distrib. East Indies, India, and tropical Africa ; also Madagascar and 

 South Africa. 



The fruits in the Socotran plants are usually strigulose-scabrid, which is not 

 usually their character in the type, though I find it in some Abyssinian 

 specimens. 



5. MUSS^ENDA. 

 Musscendcc, Linn. Gen. n. 241 ; Benth; efc Hook. Gen. PI. ii. 64. 



A considerable genus, inhabiting the warmer regions of Asia, Africa, and 

 the islands of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. 



Under the generic character, Bentham and Hooker remark : — " M. luteola, 

 Delile (perperam ad Neurocarpceam, R. Br. relata ab Endl. Gen. PI. 563) a con- 

 generibus differt fructu vere capsulari, ad basin loculicide ? dehiscente, qua 

 re ad tribum Condaminearum tendit." The Socotran plant confirms the 

 occurrence of loculicidally dehiscing fruits in species of the genus, and in its 

 characters tends rather in the direction of the Hedyotidea, and with the genus 

 Pentas of that tribe it educes the very near affinity of Musscenda. 



M. capsulifera, Balf. fil. in Proc. Eoy. Soc. Edin. xi. (1882), 836. 

 Tab. XXIX. 



Arborea ramis juvenilibus tetragonis pubescentibus ; foliis oblongo-ellipticis v. obovatis acutis 

 v. obtusis basi contractis subsessilibus coriaceis fere glabris ; stipulis dentatis ; floribus in 

 rigidas erectas terminates cymas dispositis ; calycis lobis sequalibus foliaceis linearibus ; 

 corolla elongata, limbis obcuneatis ; fructu sicco loculicide dehiscente. 



Arbor parva ramis vix tetragonis juvenilibus pubescentibus. Folia subsessilia v. brevissime 

 petiolata If— 2£ poll. Tonga £-1 poll, lata oblongo-elliptica v. obovata rarissime ovata v. 

 sublanceolata acuta v. obtusa basi contracta integra coriacea obscure pellucido-punctulata, 

 subtus glanduloso-papillulata nervis paucio pilis adpressis instructis supra nitida. 

 Stipulcc dentatse. Flores If poll, longi breviter pedicellati in corymbas terminales parvas 

 rigidas erectas dispositi ; pedicelli vix ^ poll, longi ; bracteolae subflorales acuminata? 

 minutse. Calycis tubus fere nullus, lobi 5 lineares acuti aequales persistentes £ poll, 

 longi proventu elongati strigulosi. Corolla flava, tubo 1-1 £ poll, longo angusto cylindraceo 

 supra vix ampliato extus dense striguloso-puberulo fauce villoso-hirsuto, limbi ^ poll, 

 diam. lobis obcuneatis truncatis emarginatis mucronatis. Stylus bifidus lobis crassis. 

 Fructus ellipsoideus \ poll, longus breviter strigulosus loculicide dehiscens. Scmina striata 

 foveolata angulata. 



Nom Vern. Od-el-kseh (Schweinf.). 



Socotra. On the hills. B.C.S. n. 550. Schweinf. nn. 455, 571. 



Distrib. Endemic. 



Like M. luteola, Del. (Cent. PL Afr. Cailliaud 65, t. 1, f. 1 excl. syn., 

 non Hochst ; Hiern in Oliv. Flor. Trop. Afr. iii. 71), from Nile Land, our plant 

 is peculiar in its capsular dehiscing fruit. From the Nile Land species our plant 



