PHANEROGAMS — PROFESSOR BAYLEY BALFOUR. 129 



This is another of the unique specimens in Kew Herbarium, labelled "shores 

 of the Red Sea, D. Nimmo," — and the specimens are the types upon which 

 Oliver and Hiern (loc. cit.) founded the species. I have already (p. 26) given 

 reasons for asserting that Nimmo's plants are Socotran, and this plant is then 

 endemic on the island. 



The very complete specimens we have brought home show that the leaves 

 are not always " spathulate oblong obtuse emarginate " as described, but are 

 usually oblanceolate and subapiculate, and the stems often attain a height of 

 about three inches. 



2. H. sphaerocephalum, Balf. fil. in Proc. Roy. Soc. Edin. xi. (1882), 

 839. 



Lignosum lanatum parvum a basi ramosum ramis diffusis corapressis ; foliis 5-nerviis obovatis, 

 basalibus breviter petiolatis, superioribus subsessilibus ; capitulis campanulatis 30-40-floris 

 brevissime pedicellatis 20-25 in cymas globosas terminales solitarias glomeratis ; pbyllariis 

 multiseriatis, interioribus in parte superiore niveo-petaloideis patentibus floribus longiori- 

 bus glabris ; receptaculo nudo ; acheniis scabridulis. 



Herba lignosa pedalis radice simplici caule a basi diffuse ramoso, ramis adscendentibus inferne 

 glabrescentibus superne complanatis lateribus sulcatis lanatisque pilis facile deterso vestitis. 

 Folia 5-nervia, basalia obovata in petiolum brevem attenuata 1-1^ poll, longa \ poll, lata 

 acuta et subcuspidata margine obsolete crenata supra obscure subscabrida et aracbnoidea 

 infra albida et dense lanata, superiora obovata v. subelliptica subsessilia dense omnino lanata. 

 Capikda late campanulata \ poll, longa 30-40-flora in cymas solitarias capitatas densas 

 globosas terminales § poll. diam. glomerata (in quaque ad 25) brevissime pedicellata> 

 pedicellis dense lanatis. Involucri multiseriati, phyllariis interioribus 3-4-seriatis \ poll, 

 longis floribus longioribus ad apicem expansis obtusis saepe subcrenulatis in parte triente 

 superiore niveo-petaloideis in feme stramineis marginibusque scariosis glabris, exterioribus 

 minoribus omnino scariosis late ovatis concavis plerumque obtusis lanatis. Ileceptaculum 

 nudum. Achenia oblonga subteretia scabridula. Pappi setae ad apices barbellatae. 



Soeotra. On the higher parts of the Haghier hills. On Sicante peak 

 especially abundant, at an altitude over 2500 feet. B.C.S. n. 79. Schweinf. n. 

 629. 



Distrib. Endemic. 



Another species of the hills, belonging to a section of the genus conspicu- 

 ously developed at the Cape of Good Hope, but identical with no described form. 



In favourable situations it forms a small, compact, branching, half herbaceous 

 plant, with ascending branches ending in globular clusters of heads. 



We have from dry unfavourable localities another series of specimens, which 

 I take to be a starved form of this plant, the chief feature of difference from 

 the foregoing type being its quasi-stoloniferous axes. The branches from the 

 main stem at first have elongated internodes and are decumbent, but they do 

 not root at the point where they touch the ground, but growth is there arrested, 

 and the succeeding internodes are contracted at the same time that the branch 



TRANS. ROY. SOC. EDIN. VOL. XXXI. R 



