206 BOTANY OF SOCOTRA. 



Folia opposita, interdum plura alterna, oblonga v. elliptica, integra. Flores in axillis 

 superioribus subsessiles v. breviter pedicellati, 2-bracteolati. Bracteolaa calyci adhosrentes 

 proven tu lignascentes. 



A genus with remarkable characteristics, especially of the calyx, from which 

 its name is derived. This, which in the flower is soft and leaf-like in texture, 

 and has a pair of small bracteoles adherent slightly above its base, increases in 

 size with the maturation of the fruit, and completely encloses the capsule, at 

 the same time getting hard and woody ; and the bracteoles share in this aug- 

 mentation and hardening, and thus, finally, form a pair of horn-like projections, 

 one on either side near its base. 



The technical characters of the genus are those of the Gerardiece, a tribe in 

 which are a number of small genera, readily distinguished by technicalities, but 

 yet so closely allied as to admit, perhaps, when we know a few more forms, of 

 their consolidation into one large genus. But the habit of our plant is 

 different from members of the tribe, and is more like that of some of the 

 Aptosimew, from which its androecium excludes it. 



The most natural position for the genus is in Gerardiece, where it finds its 

 nearest allies in Sopubia, Graderia, and Micrargeria, from all of which its 

 androecium, fruit, and habit readily separate it. 



Etym. %j\ov, wood, and koXv'^. 



X. asper, Balf. fil. he. oil Tab. LXIII. 



Foliis J-l poll, longis £ poll, latis crassis supra stepe glabris infra aculeolatis, aculeolis 

 uncinatis albidis ex papulo basali orientibus ; calyce \ poll, longo sub fructu £ poll, longo ; 

 corolla cserulea ^ poll, longa. 



Socotra. On the limestone plains and elsewhere. B.C.S. nn. Ill, 697. 



Distrib. Endemic. 



From Socotra we have two sets of specimens. One (n. Ill) from the plains 

 near Galonsir, and the other (n. 697) from a different locality, but the field-ticket 

 having, unfortunately, been lost, I am not certain of the place of collection, but 

 I believe they are from the hills above Galonsir, on the limestone cliffs. I have 

 been puzzled as to the specific identity or not of the specimens. 



n. Ill is a dwarf scrubby undershrub with widely-spreading branched roots 

 and a stem greatly branched, but quite prostrate, hard, gnarled, and knotted. A 

 thoroughly typical desert plant. The fruits are very persistent, and as they wither, 

 beautiful skeletons are formed and remain attached to the branches. The whole 

 plant is covered with very small prickles, but they are not very conspicuous. 



n. 697 is a virgately-branched undershrub, covered with coarse prickles and 

 with flowers and fruit larger than in n. 111. The pedicels, too, of the flowers 

 are longer, and the bracteoles in fruit are somewhat softer. 



I have concluded, for the present, to regard them as mere forms of the 

 one species, the latter being the more typical. 



