FLOBA OF ADEN. 
A AO 
exserted, straight, short. Fruit globose, J inch in diameter, semitran- 
sparent, red or milky white, with 2 dark-coloured seeds. 
Mowers : — May 1886 (Defl.), Dee. 1888 (Schweinf.). 
Fruits'. — Febr. 1851 (Thomson), April 1878 (Perry), May 1886 
(Defl.). 
Locality : — Ravines west of the Tower of Silence (Defl.) : ravine on 
the northern side of the Shum Shum Range, trailing in thorny shrubs 
(Schweinf.) ; without locality (Hook., Birdw., Perry). 
Distribution % — Syria, Turkestan, S. Persia, Afghanistan, Western 
Punjab, Sind. 
Dote : — The size of the leaves seems to vary a good deal. In 
Schweinfurth's specimens they measure J inch in length, whilst Defiers' 
plants, collected in the same locality, show leaves of almost ■£ inch in 
length. The leaves of Hooker's specimens measure |~§ inch. 
Uses : — It has been suggested that the c soma 5 of ancient classical 
writers may have been the astringent stems of Ephedra employed in 
place of hops, and not as itself the source of the liquor of which s© 
much has been written. (Watt. Diet. Econ. Prod. Ill, 247-5L) 
FUNGI. 
Podaxon arafoicus Pat. Bull. Soc. Mycol. (1887), p. 122, Saccard© 
%11. Fung. IX, p. 268. 
Description : — Perrdio subgloboso-ovato, 4-5 cm. alto sicco brunneo- 
rufo, membranaceo, 1-2 mm. cr., apice parce adpresso-squamoso, 
’deorsum usque ad dimidium altitudinis in 5-7 lacinias acutas diviso ; 
stipite basi incrassato, 12 cm. circ. alt., 1*5 cm subtus diam., apice 
attenuato, usque ad peridii apicem in columellam producto, durissimo, 
sublignoso, hinc inde scarioso-squamoso, longitudinaliter tenuissime 
striato-fibroso, flavo-aurantio maculis saturate rubris marmorato, intus 
floccoso-medulloso ; sporarum massa compacta, brunneo-rufa, cinna- 
barino-maculata ; sporis globulosis, rufis, laevibus, eguttatis. 
Locality : — Shaik Othman (Defl.). 
Distribution Ad planities sabulosas inter Shaik Othman et Lahej, 
prope Aden. 
LICHEN ES. 
Physcia vulcamca Star. Denkschr. Wiener Akad. voio 71 (1907) 
p. 94. 
Description : — Thallus parvus, subrosulatus et lobatus, centroversus 
irregulariter areolato-rimosus, ad 1*5 mm latus, v. nonnulli confluente% 
omnino adpressus et fere planus, parcius sorediosus, supra cinerec w 
