Botanical Magazine 106 - 1880.pdf - hibiscus.org

TAB. 6481.
HYPERICUM J2GYPTIACÜM.
Native ofN. Africa and the Levant.
Nat. Ord. HYPEEICINE«.•Tribe HYPEBICE^:.
Genus HYPEEICUM, Linn.; (Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PL vol. i. p. 165.)
HYPEEICUM (Triadenia) •gyptiacum ; fruticosum, erectum v. decumbens, glaberri-
mum, glaucum, foliis parvis oppositis ovatis acutis enerviis coriaceis superne
concavis subtus subcarinatis, floribus ad apices ratnulorum lateralium subsessili-
bus parvis, sepalis oblongis obtusis eglandulosis, petalis obovato-spathulatis supra
unguem medio tuberculatis, pbalangis 3 staminura glandulis liypogyais alter-
nantibus, carpellis 3 brevibus, stylis brevissimis, ovulis paucis.
H. ajgyptiacum, Linn. Am•n. Acad. vol. viii. p. 323, t. 8, f. 3; DC. Prodr. vol. i.
p. 549 ; Bot. Reg. t. 196.
Triadenia microphylla, et thymifolia, Spach in Ann. 8c. Nat. ser. 2, vol. v. p. 173,
t. 4.
T. segyptiaca, Boiss. Fl. Orient, vol. i. p. 783.
The specific name of this pretty little shrub is unfor-
tunate, for it has never, as far as at present known, been
found in Egypt. It has however an extensive range in the
Mediterranean islands and coasts ; I have examined speci-
mens from Lampedusa, Cephalonia, Zante, and Sphacteria,
and it hence may possibly occur on the coast of Egypt
westward of the Nile, which has never been explored by a
botanist. Its western limit is Cape Agadir in Southern
Morocco, on the shores of the Atlantic, where it has boon
discovered by a collector employed by M. Cosson in that
district (which is impenetrable by Christians) since the
publication of my fellow-traveller Mr. Ball's " Spicilegium
Maroccanum." It is difficult to believe that IL maritimum
Sieber and H. Webbii Spach, which differ only in the length
of the styles, are anything but sexual states of IL •gyptia-
cum : of these the first is a native of Crete, as well as of
Malta, whence we have specimens from Mr. Duthie, and the
latter of the Ionian Islands.
In its native state II. •gyptiacum is a very low-growing,
often prostrate, small shrub, with very woody stout trunk
MABCH 1ST, 1880.