11 
PHYTOCRENE. 
Frores dioici, in receptaculo globoso, carnoso aggregati. Masculi: Sguama urceolata, guadriloba, suffultiens 
perianthium quadripartitum. Stamina guatuor; filamenta ima basi coalita; antheræ versatiles. Pistilli rudimentum 
pilosum, pedicellatum, inter filamenta, ex basibus eorum coalitis recte surgens. Fæminei . .... 
Classis Linneana: Diecia Tetrandria. 
Ordo naturalis: Urticee ? 
Frutices magni, alté volubiles, ligno mollissimo, pulcherrimé poroso, liquore redundante aqueo, limpido, potulento 
(unde nomen generis derivatum). Folia petiolata, alterna, magna, cordata, nunc palmata; in unica specie oblonga. 
Flores parvi, aggregati in capitula pisiformia, racemosa, corymbos maximos, oblongos, flaccidos, congestos, ex ipso 
trunci basi vel secus ramos inferiores progredientes sæpius formantia. 
PHYTOCRENE GIGANTEA. Tab. 216. 
Forus lato-cordatis, basi sublobatis, subtus villosis ; racemis maximis, ad basin trunci densé congestis, nudis. 
Crescit copiosé in sylvis densis oræ Martabaniæ, ad Amherst versus mare, florens mense Februarii. 
Frurex verð giganteus, potids arbor dicendus, super alias arbores altissimé volubilis. Cavuis cylindricus, sulcis aliquot profundis exa- 
ratus, e viridi griseus, glabriusculus, irregularitêr tuberculatus, varit tortus, ad basin proprio suo pondere terræ lax& incumbens, brachii, 
imd eruris dimensionem attingens. Ramuur graciles, longissimi, cylindrici, aculeolis brevibus, conicis, minutis, cinereis armati, densê vestiti 
villis canis, mollibus, ferrugineis, subreflexis, inæqualibus ; juniores molliter tomentosi. Forr4 tantüm e ramis supremis ramulisque pro- 
veniunt; sunt magna, patentia, plana, petiolata, alterna, interstitiis longiora, lato-ovata, cordata, acuminata, integerrima, subsinuata, 
sæpiðs subtrilobata, lobis obtusis vel acutiusculis, sinu basis brevi, lobis lateralibus magnis rotundatis ; spithamæa, quin pedalia, mem- 
branacea, suprà nitida, secìs vasorum tractus ferrugineo-villosula, subtòs molliter villosa, canescentia, distantér nervosa, venis transversis, 
prominentibus, reticulatis, basi quinquenervia. Perrou eylindrici, crassiusculi, ferrugineo-villosi, pilisque brunneis nitidis conspersi, varié 
curvi, suprà sulcati, basi vix intumescente mediante articulatione tuberculo ramuli inserti, 2—3-pollicares. STIPULA nulle. INFLORE- 
SCENTIA constat corymbis vel racemis compositis, maximis, cylindraceo-oblongis, 5—8 vel pluribus fasciculatis, subsessilibus, lateralitér 
ramis inferioribus ipsove trunco insertis, flaccidis, pendulis vel terræ prostratis, spithamæis—pedalibus, duos tresve pollices diametro 
emetientibus, villosis. Sunt vero hi compositi ex racemulis innumeris undique sparsis et patentibus, valdé approximatis, pollicaribus vel 
sesquipollicaribus, digitum minimum crassis, sessilibus, gerentibus capitula florum 5—7, sparsa. PEDUNCULI omnes crassi, carnosi, villosi, 
indivisi; communis basi pennam scriptoriam vel cygneam emetiens, apicem versus sensim attenuatus. BracTEoLa villosa, carnosa, caduca, 
lanceolata infra pedicellos capitulorum ; nunc nulla. Frores MASCULI circiter octo, minimi, inodori, conferti in receptaculo carnoso; 
globoso, pisi magnitudinem æquante, griseo, suffulto pedicello brevi, villosulo, cylindrico, carnoso. Squama (calyx ?) monophylla, urceo- 
lata, 4-loba, nunc 4-partita, villosa, emarcescens, fusca ; lobi obtusi. PERIANTHIUM squamå paulld longius, 4-partitum, viridescens, villosum, 
intüs puberulum ; /acinie lanceolate, acutiusculæ, apice recurvatæ, æstivatione valvatæ. FILAMENTA 4, carnosa, alba, glabra, subulata, 
erecto-patentia, corollæ longitudime, ex ejusdem fundo orta, ibique per breve spatium coalita, cum laciniis alternantia. ANTHERA 
magna, ovatæ, acutæ, versatiles, biloculares, utroque margine longitudinalitêr dehiscentes; pollen flavum, globosum. RUDIMENTUM 
PISTILLI : corpusculum minutum, carnosum, oblongum, brevé pedicellatum, omnino obtectum setis erectis, violaceis, hyalinis, subhamosis, 
insertum centro basis filamentorum, hisce brevius. FLoRES FæMINEr haud visi. 
This remarkable plant belongs perhaps to Urticee, notwithstanding its several obvious discrepancies from this 
family, both in regard to the leaves and flowers. I found it growing in forests close to the sea shore on the coast of 
Martaban, and my people told me they knew a similar plant in Chittagong. It forms a gigantic climbing shrub, 
extending sometimes over very large trees. 'The structure of the wood is exceedingly curious, and has been repre- 
sented in the plate, together with the analysis of the flower, from a most beautiful drawing, for which 1 am indebted 
to my young friend Mr. William Griffiths, pupil of Professor Lindley of the London University, about to proceed to 
India as an Assistant Surgeon in the Hon. Company's service, whose extraordinary talents and knowledge as a botanist 
entitle him to the respect of all lovers of the science, and have been rewarded lately by the gold medal of the Com- 
pany of Apothecaries. s. i | 
The wood is exceedingly soft and porous, and on dividing the stem, which sometimes measures ten inches in 
diameter, or the stouter branches, a very large quantity of pure and tasteless fluid flows out, which is quite whole- 
some, and is drunk by the natives ; a circumstance which I have endeavoured to express in the generic name (Vegetable 
fountain). The leaves are produced only from the uppermost slender and long branches; while the innumerable 
small heads of flowers are collected in dense fascicles of large flaccid racemes which issue from the lower and tortuous 
part of the stem (rarely from the first branches into which it divides), sometimes covering thickly a considerable space 
round its base, and giving the plant a most extraordinary and striking appearance. 
I am acquainted with three other species, which were discovered in the mountains of Prince of Wales Island, by 
Mr. George Porter, and of which I subjoin the specific characters. I have never been so fortunate as to see the 
female inflorescence of any of them. 
