198 BOTANY OF SOCOTRA. 



Soeotra. Near Tamarida. Schweinf. n. 317. 

 Distrib. Common in the tropics of the old world. 



3. WITHANIA. 



Withania, Pauq. Diss, de Bellacl. Paris, 1824, ex End. Gen. 666 ; Benth. et Hook.Gen. PI. ii. 893. 



A small genus of some half-dozen species of woody shrubs or undershrubs 

 ranging through south Europe and south Asia, and through north Africa to 

 the Canary Islands. Also found at the Cape. Of the Socotran species, one 

 has the distribution of the genus, the other is endemic. 



1. W. SOmnifera, Dunal in DC. Prod. xiii. 1. 453; Boiss. Flor. Orient, 

 iv. 287 ; Clarke in Hook. Flor. Brit. Ind. iv. 239. 



Physalis somnifera, Linn. Sp. 261 ; Nees ab Esenb. in Trans. Linn. Soc. xvii. (1837), 66 ; 

 Wight Ic. t. 853 ; Sibth. Flor. Graec. t. 233. 



Soeotra. Near Tamarida. Schweinf. n. 341. Hunter. 

 Distrib. Of the genus. 



Schweinfurth sends this, which he found growing along with the next species. 

 We did not obtain it, and I fancy it is not so abundant as the next. 



2. W. Riebeckii, Schweinf. in Proc. Koy. Soc. Edin. xii. (1883), 83. 

 Tab. LIX. 



Frutex parvus habitu foliisque W. somniferce seel ab ea differens calyce profunde diviso et 

 fructifero non vesicoso oreque subaperto. 



Suffrutex erectus 8-pedalis plus minusve^tomentosus pilis stellatis canus ramis rectis saepe 

 subanfractuosis. Folia ovata v. elliptico-oblonga v. obovata obtusa 2-3^ poll, longa 1-1A 

 poll, lata ssepe multo majora basi ina'qualia et in petiolum plerurnque atteuuata integra 

 nonnunquam margine undulata. Flores $ in axillis 4-6 conferti breviter pedicellati ; pedi- 

 celli £ poll, longi fructiferi subcernui. Calyx campanulatus arete 5-fidus laciniis lanceo- 

 latis fructifer \ poll, longus auctus non inflatus sed apertus. Corolla subrotata. Stylus 

 filiform is apice bilobatus. Bacca globosa rubra vix pisi magnitudine. Semina tuberculata. 



Nom. Vern. Obap (B.C.S.). Abab (Schweinf.). 



Soeotra. On the plains near villages. B.C.S. n. 32. Schweinf. nn. 326, 794. 



Distrib. Endemic. 



A species, which in habit and foliage, closely resembles the foregoing widely 

 spread form, but as Schweinfurth clearly recognised, presents characters which 

 are very distinctive. These lie in the calyx. 



In true W. somnifera, the calyx in fruit has quite a Physaloid character, 

 the narrow short calycine segments forming a crown of subciliate appendages 

 at the apex, and the berry is quite concealed in the vesicose covering. But in 

 this Socotran species the calyx is in the first instance much more deeply 

 divided, almost two-thirds of the way down, and then in fruit, whilst it enlarges 

 to a certain extent, it never forms a nearly closed sac around the berry. The 



