‘Tas. 7561. 
PTERISANTHES po.ita. 
Native of the Malayan Peninsula and Islands. 
Nat. Ord. AMPELIDE. 
Genus PrerisantuEs, Blume. ; (Benth. & Hook. f. Gen. Plant. vol. i. p. 387.) 
Prerisantues polita; frutex scandens, gracillimus, fere glaberrimus, foliis 
late ovatis ovato-cordatis v. elliptico-oblongis acutis basi subcordatis 
remote dentatis cbhartaceis nitidis, cirrhis bifidis crure altera simplice 
altera florifera, receptaculo 4-5-pollicari longe  stipitato lineari- 
oblongo plano basi. apiceque inzquilaterali apice caudato sublanu- 
ginoso luride fusco-rubro utrinque florifero, costa valida, floribus aliis 
disco receptaculi immersis perfectis, aliis marginalibus longe pedicellatis 
foemineis v. sterilibus, calycis brevissimi obscure 4-lobi tubo bracteis 
rudimentariis annulato, baccis pisiformibus 2-3-locularibus, pericarpio 
tenui, loculis 1-2 spermis “ albuminue fissuris 2 subtrilobato.” 
P. polita, M. Lawson in Fl. Brit. Ind, vol. i. p. 663. Planch. in A. DC. 
Monogr. Phanerog. vol. v. p. 416. 
Vitis polita, Mig. Ann. Mus. Lugd. Bat. vol. i. p. 95. 
Pterisanthes is one of the most singular of plants in 
respect of its inflorescence, which consists of the trans- 
formation of a branch of a tendril into an elongated broad 
or narrow disk, bearing the flowers sessile on one of its 
faces, and with sometimes others pedicelled on its margins. 
Extreme as is this modification of the inflorescence of Vitis, 
there are species of the latter genus with spicate flowers, 
and the flowers sunk in the rachis of the spike, that show 
a marked transition to Pterisanthes, and perhaps justify 
Miquel in considering the two genera as one. Four 
species of Pterisanthes have been described, all Malayan 
(of which one, the present, is also Burmese), most of 
which have compound leaves. 
On making an anatomical study of the flower of 
Pterisanthes polita, Dr. Stapf recognized the presence of 
rudimentary bracts on the calyx, to which Griffith, in 
describing another species, P. cissoides (Hmbamma caudi- 
gerum, Notul. iv. 694; Ic. Pl. Asiat. t. 695), alludes as 
‘¢a roundish brownish cicatrix ” of the nature of which he 
is uncertain. As bracts or bracteoles are present in species 
OcroseR 1st, 18f7. 
