FLORA OF ADEN . 
303 
Achyranthes incana Roxb.Fl. Ind. I, 671. 
Achyranthes tomentosa Tuckey Congo Yoj. 249. 
Uretia persica O. Kuntze Rev. Gen. PI.. I, 54-4 ( partim ), 
Ouret persica Hiern in Cat. Afr. PI. Welw. I, 898. 
Arabic name : — Aerueh, Ra. 
Description: — Suffruticose, hoary-tomentose, 2 — 8 feet high ; stem 
terete, branched, as thick as a goose-quill, covered with a thick, easily 
detachable stellate tomentum. Leaves alternate, variable, 1 — 2| by | — •§■ 
inch, sessile or nearly so, linear-oblong or oblong-spathulate, obtuse and 
slightly retuse, or acute, densely tomentose. 
Flowers unisexual, usually dioecious, dull-white, sessile in linear or 
oblong spikes 1 — 6 inches long arranged in naked terminal panicles; 
bracteoles broadly ovate, acute, white, hyaline. Male flowers : Perianth 
rather more than ^ inch long ; sepals elliptic-oblong, subobtuse, woolly 
at the back. Rudimentary ovary ovoid, acute, usually shortly stipitate 
with a short style and minutely bifid stigma. Female flowers : Perianth 
T l F inch long, sepals oblong, subacute, apiculate ; style about -fa inch long; 
stigmas 2, as long as the style. 
Utricle orbicular-ovoid, very thin. Seed ^ inch in diam., lenticular, 
shining, brown-black. 
Flowers and fruits : — February 1851 (Thomson), April 1861 (Thomson), 
March 1850 (Madden), March 1878 (Perry), Dec. 1847 (Hooker). 
Locality : — In valleys, Shum Shum Range (Hook., Thomson, Madden); 
northern slope of Shum Shum Range (Schweinf.) ; Shum Shum Range 
(Ellenbeck); top of Shum Shum Range at about 1,500-1,700 feet (Busse); 
great valley between Steamer-Point and town (Marchesetti); without 
locality (Birdw., Hildebrandt, Perry). 
Distribution Ca,pe Verd Islands, E. and W. tropical Africa, North 
Africa, Yemen, India, Ceylon (not Java). 
No te We followed Baker and Clarke (This. -Dyer FI. trop. Afr. 
vol. VI, 37) in adopting ForskaPs name ‘ Aerua tomentosa ’ with pre- 
ference to Jussieu's 1 Aerua javanica } “ Forskal ", they say, i( gives the 
full name of this species on page CXXII, and an excellent description on 
page 170. Jusiseu (in Ann. Mus. Par. ii 1803, 131) mentions ' javani- 
cum } as a species he would transfer to Aerua j and, by tracing back, it is 
found that he meant Iresine javanica, Burm. (PI. Ind. t. 65, fig. 2). 
It is evident, from Burmann's figures, that Ae. tomentosa , Forsk., is Iresine 
persica , Burm., which does not extend so far east as the Malay Peninsula 
and Java. If, therefore, either of BurmamPs names is to be taken, it 
will be persica (as has been done by O. Kuntze and Hiern); but Ae. 
tomentosa Forsk., is not only the older name, but expresses the one 
characteristic on which the species stands." 
H 
