114 
FLORA OF ADEN. 
anthers opening by pores. Ovary 2-celled ; one ovule in each cell, 
pendulous. 
Capsule 2-celled, loculicidal, 2-seeded. Seeds pilose or glabrous, 
almost always strophiolate and albuminous. 
Species about 450 
Distribution : — Chiefly in the warmer regions of both hemispheres, 
except New Zealand and Tasmania. 
Leaves inches long — 
Filaments of crest arranged in 2 bundles . . . 1. P. eriopteva. 
Filaments of crest not arranged in 2 bundles , . 8. P. chinensis. 
Leaves | inch long . . . . • . 2. P. Thurmanniana. 
1. Polygala erioptera DC. Prodr. I, 326. 
Polygala tri flora Anders. Journ. Linn. Soc. V. Suppl. p. 6 : Oliv. 
FI. trop. Air., I, 128 j non L. ! 
Polygala oligantha A. Rich. Tent. PI. Abyss. I, 38. 
Polygala arabica Edgew. Journ. As. Soc. Beng. XVI, 1213. 
Polygala irregularis Defl. Bull. Soc. Bot. Fr. XXXII, 346. 
Arabic name : — Bissere. 
Description : — Annual, 6-15 inches high, usually branched from the 
base or nearly so ; branches ascending, numerous, terete, pubescent or 
glabrescent. Leaves |-1J by T \-i inch, very variable in form, from 
oblong-obovate to very narrow-linear, narrowed at the base, apex 
rounded or subacute, sometimes mucronate, clothed on both surfaces 
with minute simple hairs ; petioles about -g 1 ^ inch long. 
Flowers yellow, in axillary or extra-axillary, very short few-flowered 
racemes ; crest dorsal, of many bifid or linear filaments arranged in 
2 bundles ; pedicels slender, hairy, £ inch long ; bracts minute, ovate, 
hairy. Outer sepals -fa inch long, ovate, pubescent. Wings s"A inch long, 
obliquely ovate-oblong, pubescent, a little longer than the capsule, with 
a strong green midrib and membranous, ciliate margins. 
Capsules oblong-elliptic, not margined, pubescent, ciliate, shorter and 
narrower than the wings, obliquely emarginate. Seeds oblong, densely 
pilose; strophiole galeate, horny, smooth and shining or sometimes 
with a few hairs, obscurely 3-lobed. 
Flowers and fruits in November and March (Schweinf.) . 
Locality: — Goldmore Valley, above the coal depot of the Messag. 
Marit., Wadi Maala (Schweinf.) ; Koosaf Valley, ravine west of the 
Tower of Silence, plain of Maala (Defl.) ; without locality (Edgew., 
Hook., Madden, Anders., Birdw.). 
