PHANEROGAMS— PROFESSOR BAYLEY BALFOUR. 263 



Arbor parva glabra ramis multiramosis ultimis teimibus pendulis angulatis compressis. Folia 

 alterna £-1 poll, longa £- £ poll, lata petiolata lanceolata v. elliptico-oblonga v. suboblauce- 

 olata v. anguste obovata acuta basi attenuata iutegra parum revoluta crassiuscula 

 glauca subtus nervo medio promiuente ; petiolus g— i poll, longus. Mores dioici; $ ignoti ; 

 J in cymas axillares foliis subteudentibus subaequales v. lougiores 3- (rarius 4-) floras 

 longe pedunculatas ad extremitates ramulorum dispositi ; pedunculi ^~2 P oU - ^ 011 gi > 

 cymse quaeque flos centralis solum aperiens et longissime pedicellatus, laterales caduci ; 

 bracteolae lineares v. sublanceolataj rubro-panctatse caducae j\ 2 poll, longas. Mores £ 

 dimorphici : plurimi minuti crassiusculi glauci in alabastro trigono- v. tetragono-glcbosi 

 ^g poll. diam. pedicelloque £ poll, longo ; perianthio subrotato alte 3-4-lobato expanso £ 

 poll, diam., lobis ovato-rotundatis obtusis ; disco obscure 3-4-lobato carnoso ; staminibus 3-4 

 inflexis lobis oppositis eisque brevioribus, antberarum loculis parallelis filamentis 

 subaequalibus : pauci majores et ssepissime ad basin inflorescentiae totae pyriformes v. 

 obovoidei £ poll, longi j 1 ^ poll, diam., pedicello incrassato | poll, longo ; periantbio coriaceo 

 incrassato glauco levi 3-lobato lobis alte connatis intus spougioso demum aperieute ; 

 staminibus 3, antberis pollinibusque majoribus. Caet. iguot. 



Socotra. On the Haghier hills. B.C.S. n. 630. 



Distrib. Endemic. 



A very graceful plant ; quite distinct from, though allied to, other species. We 

 have no female flowers of the plant, but the male flowers present an interesting 

 feature deserving special mention. The majority of the flowers are small with 

 somewhat rotate perianths as in other species of the genus. The stamens in 

 these flowers are perfect, the anthers splitting laterally and discharging a 

 granular smooth pollen when the corolla opens. But id addition to these 

 normal flowers there is another kind. They are more sparingly developed and 

 usually at some distance from the apex of the flower-bearing branch. They 

 are much longer and have with their pedicels a pear-shape. As in the case of 

 the other kind of male flower, it is commonly the centre flower only of each 

 cyme which develops and opens, the lateral ones falling off, and these solitary 

 pyriform flowers on long peduncles become thus conspicuous, and might at first 

 be taken for fruits. The pedicel is thickened, and gradually blends with the 

 floral perianth, which is greatly hardened and thickened and divided slightly 

 into three lobes, which, however, remain connate and connivent for a long- 

 time, and thus the perianth forms a box of an obovoid shape. The inner surface 

 of the perianth is somewhat spongy, and bears three stamens on short filaments. 

 The anthers are normal in form, larger than those in the small male flowers, 

 and contain smooth pollen grains, which are larger than the grains of the 

 smaller flowers. When mature these flowers open slightly but do not expand 

 freely ; they merely form a chink at the apex. Of what service this dimorphism 

 is to the plant it is difficult to say, in the absence of specimens to show the 

 character of the female flowers, in which one would possibly find a corresponding 

 dimorphism. In no specimens of other species in Kew Herbarium have 

 I been able to find a like condition. 



