240 
27. ROSACEiE. 
downwards ; rachis of lower 1. and lfts. beneath hairy-pubescent; 
lfts. sharply inciso-serrate, the lower roundish, the upper oval 
or ovate-oblong; heads solitary subglobose, fl. all perfect except 
a few of the lower ; fil. scarcely longer than the spreading or 
reflexed subpersistent sep. ; fr. large oval strongly and coarsely 
muricate-lacunose or reticulate-rugose. — Ehrenb. Ann. des Sci. 
iii. 263 ; WB. ii. 9. P. megacarpon Novit. 22 or 544. P. San- 
guisorba Buch 197. no. 374 (not Linn.). — Herb. per. Mad. r eg. 
1, 2, c. Dry sunny hills, waste rocky places and road-sides, 
chiefly near the sea, everywhere ; all about Funchal, along the 
Cani^o road, W. bank of the Roxinha, &c., about S. Martinho, 
Pico da Cruz and P. de S. Antonio to the W., &c. ; not often 
seen above 1000 ft. April-June. — Wholly without scent or 
flavour. Boot strong tough woody. Fl.-st. about a ft. high, 
the branches slender stiff and somewhat straggling. Foliage 
rather dull gr., sometimes glaucescent, very variable in pubes- 
cence, rarely altogether smooth. L. 3-6 in. long odd-pinnate, 
the lower pubescent, upper nearly or quite smooth. Lfts. in 
5-7 or 8 pairs, nearly sessile, sharply but coarsely or deeply 
serrate, the lower on the rachis small and irregularly placed, 
upper 5 or 6 lines long, 3-5 broad. Heads of fl. subglobose or 
hemispherical on long naked ped. (the ultimate branches of the 
st.), gr. not atropurpureous. Anthers pale ochraceous, with 
short pale slender flexuose fil. Stigmas short and small, deep- 
crimson. Cal.-lobes mostly 4, large broad oval smooth, not 
falling till the fr. is ripe. Fr. coated with the hardened adherent 
spongy deeply pitted cal. -tube, pale ochraceous or cream-colour, 
2 lines long and nearly as broad, 2 or 3 times as large as in P. 
Sanguisorba L., oval not quadrangular, and with the prominent 
raised walls or edges of the pits irregularly jagged or toothed. 
Nut almost always single, ovate-globose, not angular, obsoletely 
rugulose, dark brown or black. 
Entirely devoid of the peculiar grateful cool Cucumber-like 
smell and flavour of its near ally P. Sanguisorba L., which in 
old times in England, until the introduction of the modern 
Cucumber, rendered the last-named pi. of such repute. 
2. Bencomia Webb. 
1. B. CAUDATA (Ait.). 
Shrubby dioecious without spines, hairy-pubescent or villose; 
young shoots, ped., petioles, rachis and lfts. beneath shaggy or 
villose; 1. odd-pinnate in terminal tufts; lfts. in 4-6 pairs, 
oblong-ovate acute sharply serrate, glabrescent or smoothish 
above, whitish and villose beneath ; stip. irregularly lacerate- 
pinnate ; spikes axillary thick cylindric elongate cernuous or 
