PHANEROGAMS— PROFESSOR BAYLEY BALFOUR. 215 



Distrib. Endemic. 

 A third and very distinct species I have placed in this genus. Like the 

 foregoing it belongs to the two-seeded section of the genus in which the fruit is 

 beaked, and like it is exceptional in the order, as there is but one ovule in each 

 cell of the ovary. The two species have no very close affinity, one with the 

 other, and it is therefore all the more remarkable to find this unusual character 

 developed in both of them. 



4. NEURACANTHUS. 



Neur acanthus, Nees ab. Esenb. in Wall. PI. As. Ear. iii. 76, and in DC. Prod. xi. 248 ; Benth. et 

 Hook. Gen. PI. ii. 1093. 



A small genus of, rarely spiny, herbaceous or half-shrubby species, of which 

 two or three are tropical African, two are endemic in Socotra, and the rest are 

 Indian. 



N. aculeatus, Balf. fil. in Proc. Koy. Soc. Edin. xii. (1883), 86. , Tab. 

 LXIX, A. 



Suffruticosus incanus ^-1-pedalis ramulis brevibus; foliis linearibus sinuato-undulatis ; spicis 

 axillaribus brevibus ; bracfceis apice lignosis subulato-pungeutibus. 



Suffrutex aculeatus erectus saepe subprostratus ^-1-pedalis incanus dense lanato-pubescens 

 multo intricatoque ramosus, ramis brevibus. Folia mollia breviter petiolata saepe ad 

 extremitates ramulorum rosulata linearia sinuato-uudulata obtusa 1 poll, louga. v. minora 

 ^ poll, lata crassa subinvoluta nervo medio subtus prominulo. Flores in spicas breves 

 1-]^- poll, longas axillares haud raro ramosas dispositi ; bracteae floribus longiores \—^ poll, 

 longae basi ellipticse amplexicaules nervo medio lignoso et in aculeum subulatum longum 

 recurvuni producto plus minusve lanatas, basales saepe cassae. Bracteolai 0. Calyx sub 

 fructu auctus 2-lobatus, lobis involutis inaequalibus lanceolatis v. anguste-ellipticis, postico 

 -£ poll, longo -^ poll, lato 3-nervio apice 3-5-fido segmentis subulatis pungentibus, antico 

 minore bifido segmentis pungentibus. Corolla \ poll, longa infiindibuliformis extus dense 

 lanato-pubescens intus postice glabra antice villosa, tubo cylindrico, limbo expanso patente 

 minute 5-lobato plicato lobis acutis posticis 2 altius connatis. Stamina 4 didynama fauci 

 affixaper paria basi subconnata, filamentis brevibus ; anthems muticae anticorum longiorum 

 perfecte 2-loculares loculis distinctis altero altiore villoso ciliato, posticorum minores 

 1-loculares v. loculo secundo imperfecto. Discus inconspicuus. Ovarium glabrum apice 

 paulum productum ; stylus validus basi tumidus apice obliquus expansus obovoideus antice 

 cavus stigmatiferus ; ovula in quoque loculo 2. Capsula glabra oblonga v. anguste ovata 

 apice angustata § poll, longa a basi vix contracta 2-locularis septo parallelis compressa 

 basi et ad medium seminifera. Semina 4 apice paulum marginata ^ poll, longa retinaculis 

 acutis fulta. 



Socotra. A plant of the plains. B.C.S. n. 502. 



Distrib. Endemic. 



A plant possessing so fully the technical characters of this genus that I am 

 constrained to place it here, although in habit it differs entirely from the type, 

 and indeed from any species included in the genus. It is a very characteristic 



