PHANEROGAMS— PEOFESSOR BAYLEY BALFOUR. 287 



is another instance of that botanical affinity of Socotra with the Cape which I 

 have alluded to under Begonia socotrana (t. 6555). Singularly enough no 

 species of the genus occurs in Angola, or any of the collections from the Lake 

 regions of Central Africa, where, however, it may be expected to occur when 

 these are better botanically explored." 



B. socotrana, Hook. f. in Bot. Mag. t. 6585. 



Parvula acaulis glaberrima bulbi tunica reticulatim fibrosa; foliis auguste lanceolatis sensim 

 acuininatis rigidulis plicatis et striato-nervosis ; floribus solitariis parvis inter folia sessili- 

 bus ; spathre valvis linearibus ; periantbii tubo elongato gracillimo limbo bilabiato ringente 

 pallide violaceo segmentis elliptico-lanceolatis acutis. 



3-4 poll. alta. Bulbi \-\ poll. diam. subglobosi sursum abrupte in collum \ poll, longum 

 contract! vagina fibrorum fuscorum firme reticulatorum tecti. Folia bifaria 3-4 poll, longa 

 \ poll, lata ab medio ultra acuminata nervis plurimis validis ; petiolus obliquus latus com- 

 pressus. Perianthii tubus 1|- poll, longus, limbus fere 1 poll, latus segmentis subtequalibus. 

 Stigmata vix protmsa cserulea. 



Socotra. On the hill slopes south-west from Galonsir. B.C.S. n. 249. 



Distrib. Endemic. 



Sir Joseph Hooker remarks regarding this plant — " I can find no generic 

 difference at all between B. socotrana, and the south African Babianas ; it is, 

 however, much the smallest known species of the genus, and is one of the few 

 that is perfectly glabrous. Its nearest affinity is with B. plicata (G. in Bot. Mag. 

 t. 576)." We only obtained poor specimens of the plant in leaf and withered 

 flower in February 1880, but the bulbs we brought home flowered in September 

 of the same year at Kew, and from these specimens the plant has been figured. 



Order LXXIV. AMARYLLIDEtE. 



A large order dispersed over the warmer and temperate regions of the 

 world and greatly developed in dry sandy and stony regions. Of the two 

 Socotran genera, one has the distribution of the order, the other is a genus of 

 south Africa of which a few species also occur in tropical Africa. 



1. CRINUM. 



Crinum, Linn. Gen. n. 405 ; Bentb. et Hook. Gen. PI. iii. 726. 



A considerable genus of showy-flowered species distributed in tropical and 

 subtropical regions of the whole globe. 



C. (Platyaster) Balfourii, Baker in Bot. Mag. Tab. 6570, and in Gard. 

 Chron. xvi. 1881, 72. 



Bulbo ovoideo brevicollo ; foliis 10-12 synantbiis loratis firmulis viridibus vix pedalibus apice 

 deltoideis ; scapo compresso foliis subduplo-longiori ; umbellis 10-12-floris ; spathse valvis 



