JOURNAL

OF THE

ASIATIC SOCIETY OF BENGAL: ·

VOL. LXXIV., PART II.-Extra Number, 1905.

Materials for a Flora of the Malayan Peninsula.-By SIR GEORGE KING, K.C.I.E., LL.D., F.R.S., late Superintendent of the Royal Botanic Garden, Calcutta, and J. S. GAMBLE, C.I.E., F.R.S., late of the Indian Forest Department.

No. 16.

The present contribution commences with an account of the genus Psychotria, which concludes the Natural Order Rubiacea. In addition, it contains accounts of the Natural Orders Valerianea and Composita (prepared by Sir G. King); Stylidiea, Goodenovieæ, and Campanulacea (prepared by Mr. Gamble); Vacciniacea and Ericaceae (Sir G. King); Epacridea and Plumbaginea (Mr. Gamble). For the new genera and species proposed in these Orders the authors are jointly responsible. The account of the Order Monotropea has been supplied by Lieut.Col. Prain, F.R.S., Superintendent of the Royal Botanic Garden, Calcutta; and that of the Order Gentiane has been added, having been drawn up by Mr. C. B. Clarke, F.R.S., late President of the Linnean Society of London. It is somewhat out of its proper sequence, but has been included, as the descriptions were ready for publication.

In addition, therefore, to the account of the Rubiaceous genus Psychotria, with 29 Malayan Peninsular species, of which 11 are new to science, this fasciculus contains accounts of the Malayan members of 11 Natural Orders, including 48 genera and 81 species, of which 2 genera and 17 species are new to science.

Nat. Ord. LIX. RUBIACEE.

53. PSYCHOTRIA, Linn.

Shrubs or small trees, erect or occasionally climbing or twining; rarely herbs. Leaves opposite, rarely in whorls of 3 or 4. Stipules free in pairs, or connate, often with glands or hairs, deciduous or persistent. Flowers rather small, in terminal, rarely axillary, cymes.

9661

corymbs or fascicles, bracteolate or not, never involucrate (in the Malayan species). Calyx-tube short; the limb persistent in part or deciduous. Corolla tube straight, short; the throat naked or hairy; the lobes of the mouth 5, rarely 4 to 6, valvate in bud. Stamens as many as the corolla-lobes, inserted on the throat or mouth; anthers linear or obtuse, attached dorsally near the base to short or long filaments. Ovary 2-celled; style long or short, bifid; ovules often cuneiform, solitary, erect from the base of each cell. Fruit small, baccate or drupe-like, ovoid globose or oblong, smooth or ridged, composed of two plano-convex, 1-celled, 1-seeded pyrenes; or didymous and separating into two cocci. Seeds plano-convex, the ventral surface grooved or plane, the dorsal smooth, ridged or sulcate; testa thin, albumen hard; embryo small, basal; cotyledons broad, thin; radicle inferior. DISTRIB. Species about 550; tropical or sub-tropical.

Scandent:

Flowers 4-merous :-

Panicles lax; leaves elliptic- or oblong-lanceolate

Flowers 5-merous :

.. 1. P. laxiflora.

Seeds with 4 ridges on the dorsal surface, the ventral
surface plane:-

Flowers sessile in small capitula at the ends of the
branches of the cymes:-

Leaves ovate to oblong-elliptic, 1.75 to 2.5 in. broad;
inflorescence puberulous

2. P. morindaflora.

3. P. Maingayi.

4. P. sarmentosa.

Leaves narrowly elliptic-oblong, main-nerves 4 to 6
pairs; petioles 4 to 8 in. long; fruit 35 in. long.. 5. P. Kunstleri.
Leaves broadly obovate or sub-ovate; main-nerves 5

to 10 pairs; petioles 5 to 1.5 in.; fruit 4 in. long.. 6. P. penangensis. Seeds with 3 ridges on the dorsal surface, the ventral surface plane:

Flowers pedicellate, in cymosely branched paniculate
cymes; fruit narrowly ellipsoid

..

Flowers on short pedicels in globular cymes at the ends
of the branches of the panicles :-

Leaves and stems glabrous; fruit subglobose, 2 in.
long ..

7. P Scortechinii.

8. P. pilulifera.

Leaves and stems and inflorescence rusty-pubescent 9. P. ovoidea. Seeds with more than 4 ridges on both dorsal and ventral

Seeds faintly ridged on the dorsal surface, the ventral

surface with a shallow groove

Erect shrubs, usually small :

Flowers 4-merous :

Leaves with a strong pale intra-marginal nerve

Flowers 5-merous :

..

Flowers shortly pedicellate, in dense globular cymules at the ends of the long-peduncled branches of a terminal umbellate cyme; leaves deciduously puberulous, with 9 to 13 pairs of main-nerves; fruit 3 in. long; seeds 4-ridged on the dorsal surface, slightly concave on the ventral

Leaves elliptic, the upper surface glabrous except
the midrib, 5 to 7 in. long; fruit 45 in. long
Seeds 5-ridged on the dorsal surface and 2-grooved on
the ventral; leaves glabrous on the upper surface,
their margins crenulate

11. P. polycarpa.

12. P. calocarpa.

13. P. multicapitulata.

14. P. tortilis.

15. P. Griffithii.

16. P. angulata. 17. P. Helferiana.

18. P. montana.

19. P. viridiflora.

20. P. Birchiana.

21. P. fulva.

22. P. fulvoidea.

Seeds with 5 ridges on the dorsal surface and 1 ridge
on the ventral; leaves glabrous, usually oblanceolate 23. P. stipulacea.
Seeds 4-ridged on the dorsal surface, plane on the

ventral:

Leaves elliptic, tapering equally to each end, 9- to

10-nerved; calyx-lobes very long caudate-acuminate 24. P. Curtisii.
Leaves obovate-oblong or obovate-oblanceolate, 10- to
14-nerved; calyx-lobes short, broad, blunt

25. P. rhinocerotis.

Seeds with 4 ridges on the dorsal surface and a faint
groove on the ventral; leaves elliptic or elliptic-
lanceolate, 12- to 18-nerved

SPECIES IMPERFECTLY KNOWN.

Psychotria Wrayi, No. 27.

inæqualis, No. 28.
condensa, No. 29.

.. 26. P. malayana.

1. PSYCHOTRIA LAXIFLORA, Blume Bijdr. 964. Scandent or epiphytic, glabrous except the inflorescence; young branches slightly thicker than a crow-quill, terete, dark-coloured, brown, shining. Leaves membranous, narrowly elliptic- or oblong-lanceolate, much acuminate, the base cuneate; both surfaces olivaceous-brown when dry, the lower the paler, midrib distinct; main-nerves 4 to 6 pairs, faint, curved, ascending; length 2 to 4 in.; breadth 5 to 1 in.; petiole 15 to 2 in. long. Stipules forming a tube from 15 to 3 in. long, sharply toothed. Panicles solitary, terminal, lax, more than half as long as the leaves, on naked peduncles about 1 in. long; branches cymose, with small acute bracteoles at their bases, puberulous. Flowers 15 to 2 in. long,. puberulous, in cymules of three at the ends of the branchlets; their pedicels short, with broad acute caducous bracteoles at their bases.. Calyx shortly funnel-shaped, the mouth sub-truncate or obscurely 4 toothed. Corolla longer than the calyx, broadly clavate in bud, funnel-shaped; the mouth with 4 broad obtuse lobes, throat sericeous. Anthers 4, elliptic, blunt, sub-sessile. Fruit clavate-ellipsoid, with 8 vertical ridges (2 of them double), glabrous; seeds with 4 bold ridges on the dorsal surface; the ventral surface quite flat. Miq. Fl. Ind. Bat. II. 187.

SINGAPORE: Ridley 13, 4828. JOHORE: Ridley. PERAK: King's Collector 4117, 8428; Wray 110.-DISTRIB. Sumatra, Forbes 1297, 1309, 1710, 2466; Java, Koorders 23550B.

2. PSYCHOTRIA MORINDEFLORA, Wall. Cat. 8438 A.B.C. in part. A woody climber, 15 to 20 feet long, glabrous except the puberulous inflorescence; young branches thinner than a goose-quill, dark brown when dry, terete, somewhat thickened at the nodes, the internodes minutely lenticellate and faintly striate. Leaves coriaceous, ovate to elliptic, sometimes oblong-lanceolate, shortly and rather bluntly acuminate, the base slightly cuneate or rarely rounded; upper surface olivaceous-greenish when dry, the lower purplish-brown; the midrib. channelled on the upper surface, prominent on the lower; main-nerves 6 to 8 pairs, rather straight, spreading, thin but rather distinct on both surfaces when dry; length 3 to 4.5 in.; breadth 1.75 to 2.5 in.; petiole