and figured in Beccari’s “‘ Malesia”? (under Rhynchopyle),. — 
and there are yet others in the Kew Herbarium hitherto un- 
described. As with other tribes of obscure Malayan Aroids, 
natives of dark tropical forests, they are overlooked by col- 
lectors in search of showy plants of horticultural interest ; 
and it is only when their native habitats are visited by such 
experienced botanists and travellers as Dr. Beccari, in 
the Malayan Islands, and Mr. Ridley in the Peninsula, 
that they are likely to be procured for scientific purposes. 
Piptospatha Ridleyi is a native of Johore, in the southern — 
extremity of the Malay Peninsula. It was sent to the — 
Royal Gardens, Kew, in 1893, by the botanist whose 
name it bears, the Director of the Garden and Forest 
Department of the Straits Settlements. It flowered in the — 
Tropical House in June of the same year, and continued — 
in flower all the summer. : 
Descr.—Basal sheaths of stem lanceolate, acuminate, — 
and like the petioles a dark vinous red. Leaves erect, 
six to eight inches long by two broad, elliptic-lanceolate, — 
acute at both ends, dark green above, with pale blotches — 
between the eight to ten pairs of ascending nerves; dull — 
pale green beneath, with slender midrib nerves, and a 
narrow, intramarginal nerve; petiole about half the length | 
of the blade, grooved in front. Peduwncle about as long a8 
the leaves, pale reddish brown, as thick as a small goose- 
quill. Spathe two inches long, nodding or decurved, 
ovoid, with a short, upturned beak, closed, except at the — 
apex; base dull green, upper half or more, pink, with — 
slender, darker nerves and dots. Spadivx sessile, about — 
one-quarter the length of the spathe, cylindric, top rounded; 
flowers densely packed; male portion as long as tbe 
female, the latter subtended by a ring of minute, clavate 
neuters. Anthers quadrately oblong ; cells lateral, opening 
by minute, terminal pores ; connective hemispheric, pubes- 
cent. Ovaries ovoid, 2-celled; stigma sessile, disciform ; 
ovules many, basal erect, orthotropous.—J. D. H. 
Fig. 1, Top of peduncle and spadix; 2 and 3, anthers; 4, neuter orga 
5, ovary; 6, the same cut lengthwise, and 7, transversely; 8, ovules A 
enlarged. 
