262 BOTANY OF SOCOTRA. 



n 763 ; Ach. Rich. Tent. Flor. Abyss, i. 342), but is not conspecific. The follow- 

 ing is a brief indication of characters derived from our fragments : — 



Hamuli glabri glauci striati. Folia breviter petiolata elliptica v. elltptico-oblonga v. oblonga 

 obtusa bnsi contracta 2-2^ poll, longa 1-1 j poll, lata valde coriacea venulis a basi sursum 

 divergentibus ; petiolus validus \ poll, longus. 



Socotra. Near Galonsir. B.C.S. n. 195. 



Order LXVIII. SANTALACE^. 



A considerable order of tropical and temperate woody plants, sometimes 

 parasitical, spread all over the world. The Socotran members of the order 

 belong to old world genera. 



OSYRIS. 



(hyris, Linn. Gen. n. 1101 ; Bentb. et Hook. Gen. PI. iii. 227. 



A small genus of glabrous often glaucous shrubs or small trees, natives of 

 south Europe, Africa, and India. One Socotran species has a wide distribution 

 in Africa and India ; the other is endemic. 



1. O. arborea, Wall. Cat. n. 4035; A. DC. Prod. xiv. 633. 



0. Wirjhtiana, Wall. Cat. n. 4036 ; A. DC. loc. cit ; Wight Ic. t. 1853. 



0. abyssinica, Hocbst. in herb. Sohirap. Abyss, sect. i. n. 281 ; Ach. Eich. Tent. Flor. Abyss, ii. 

 236 ; A. DC. loc. cit. 



Socotra. On the Haghier range at altitudes over 1500 feet. B.C.S. n. 

 503. Schweinf. n. 730. 



Distrib. India and Africa from Abyssinia to the Cape. 



The name adopted here for this species was originally given by Wallich to 

 Nepal plants. But I cannot find specific differences betwixt the Nepal plants 

 and those widely-spread (in India and Ceylon) species which he named O. 

 Wightiana. I also take the African plant O. Abyssinica of Hochstetter to be 

 a form of the same species ; and retaining the oldest name for the species, we 

 find it a widely-spread form throughout India and Africa. It is not a little 

 variable in size and form of leaf. Our Socotran plants have broad and very 

 glaucous leaves resembling in this particular the Indian O. Wightiana. Of the 

 flowers we have only a few males, but they give no ground for separation from 

 this species. 



2. O. pendula, Balf. fil. in Proc. Roy. Soc. Edin. xii. (1883), 93. Tab. 

 LXXXVII. 



Arborea glabra ramis pendulis ; foliis breviter petiolatis alter nis lanceolatis v. suboblanceolatis 

 acuti-; glancis ; floribus dioicis ; & dimorphicis in cymas 3-4-floras longe pedunculatas 

 dispositis, plurimi's mihutis periantbio rotato 3-4-lobato discoque carnoso, paueis majori- 

 bus pyriformibus lobis conniventibus ; $ ign. 



