424 Capt. N. Vicarys Notes on the Botany of Srnde. 
in several parts of Sinde_, but thrives best at Sukkur and its vi- 
cinity, on both banks of the Indus. There are two varieties : 
one with pale yellow, and the other with brown fruit ; the fruit 
is smaller than the Egyptian date, but when ripe is very palatable ; 
only eertain trees produee good fruit, about a third of the whole 
perhaps. The fruit of the remainder is injured by tapping for 
the juiee, from which sugar is manufactured. 
The plants of the coast are of a mixed and peculiar character, 
and many of them belong to more northern genera. Berrcea in- 
cana, Cav., grows plentifully on the sand-hills of the coast ; the 
only known species of this genus is a native of Succotra, and is 
described as being only three inches high. The Km-rachee plant 
forms a bush two feet in height, and when in flower is very pretty ; 
perhaps it may be a new species. 
A very hoary Atriplex, not far removed from A. verruciferum, 
is also very plentiful : Ipomcea bilohata spreads over the sand in 
every direction, and Sccevola Taccada, Roxb., is abundant on the 
tops of the sand-hills ; the berry is white at flrst, but turns purple 
when ripe. A new species of jEgialitis is also found all along the 
coast, and a new shrubby plant of the Paronychice, with the bark 
and almost the leaves of an Equisetum. 
Cadaba Indica ? grows on the rocks at Minora Point ; I also 
noticed this plant in the Hala mountains, but am rather doubtful 
as to the species ; I have only seen the cucumber-shaped fruit 
which is made into a pickle by the Sindeans. 
I shall now proceed to notice seriatim such plants of my her- 
barium as appear to me deserving of elucidation. 
Umbellifer^. 
Indigenous plants of this class are rare in Sinde ; I have but 
one specimen from the Hala mountains, which for the present I 
have referred to — 
1. Libanotis the plant smells strong of asafoetida. 
Rhizophorace^. 
I found a fresh flowering branch of a tree of this class floating 
in the surf on the beach at Kurrachee, but nowhere detected 
living trees. 
2. It belongs to the genus Ceriops of Arnott ; the many 
mouths of the Indus will doubtless afford others of this order. 
Crucifers. 
3. A species of Farsetia abounds from Bhawulpoor throughout 
Sinde ; it is often the only food procurable for camels, who eat it 
greedily along with a frutescent Crambe ? In the Hala moun- 
tains it is used for the same purposes. 
