ALAUASTUA PHILIPI'INENSIA, 11. 181 
are so small that it is difTicuIt to arrive at certain conclusions regarding their 
nature; it is barely possible that there may be a perianth completely inclosing 
the ovary, but if so there are no visible teeth, and should the plant thus fall into 
another section of the family it is still apparently distinct from anything yet 
described. Further collections in the type locality will decide wliat its true posi- 
tion may be. Alaoutia reticulata Weddell, from the Mariannes and the Philip- 
pines, collected in tlie latter by N^, is known with male ilowers only, and from 
the description of the leaves might possibly be this species. 
The inflorescence in some ways suggests rather the Moraccae than the Urti- 
caccac, but its affinities seem to lie with the latter family. 
ANONACE^. 
POLYALTHIA Blumc. 
Polyalthia williamsii sp. nov. 
Arbor parva; floribus solitariis-ternis^ terminalibus vel rarius axilla- 
ribus; sepalis 3^ valvatis, niitriforinibus; petalis 3, subaequalibus^ valvatis, 
subplanibus; staminibus circa 125, connectivo antlieras excedente, folia- 
ceo; carpcllis circa 20^ ovnlis solitariis basilaribus, vel rarius duobns 
superpositis ; foliis alternis, integerrimiS;, oblongis ellipticis vel ovatis. 
Flowers solitary or two or three together^ terminal or sometimes axil- 
lary^ borne on peduncles 7-12 mm long and 1.4-1.8 mm thick; bracts 
ciipular, shoathing the peduncles^ 2 mm long^ their apices about 1.5 mm 
below base of flowers^ abruptly and sharply acuminate at the apex, with 
short and scattered reddish pubescence: sepals 3^ valvate, mitriform, 
rounded or very shortly and obtusely acuminate and mucronulate at the 
apex, 6 mm long, 5 mm wide in middle, tapering to 3.5 nun at base, 0.5 
mm thick at the middle of the base, decreasing in thickness upwards and 
outwards, ciliolate, with scattered reddish hairs on tha middle of the 
back; petals 3, valvate, fiat or nearly so, somewhat obliquely oval, 17.5- 
18.5 mm long, 8.5-11.5 nun wide, attached by the somewhat arching 
base 3-3.5 mm wide, not much thickojiod in the basal 5-6 mm, tlicn 
swollen to a thickness of 1.5-4 mm except at the extreme edges, causing 
them to be sometimes almost triangular in section; stamens about 125 
in number, arranged in 5 or 6 rows, 3.5^ mm long, 1-1.2 mm wide, 
arching and dehiscing outwards, oblanceolate or narrowly oblong; con- 
nective prolonged beyond the anther-cells for about 0.5-0.7 mm, foliace- 
ous, rounded at the apex, not as thick as the anther-cells : carpels about 
20, 2.7-3 nun long, 1 mm wide in middle, the densely brown-toraentose 
ovary forming about two-thirds of tlie entire length, 1-celled, with one 
basal o\-ule, or in young ovaries apparently a second placed above the 
first but aborting early. 
A small tree about 5.4 m high, with a trunk 6.2 cm in diameter, the 
bark of the ultimate branches greenish- to dark-brown, striate, glabrous: 
leaves alternate, the lamina entire, oblong, elliptic, or ovate, borne on 
petioles 5.5-11 nmi long, acute or obtuse at the base, obtusely acuminate 
