258 The Philippine Journal of Science i9ie 



VINCENTIA Gaudichaud 

 VINCENTIA ROBINSONII sp. nov. 



Dense caespitosa, glabra, usque ad 1 m alta ; foliis equitantibus, 

 coriaceis, glabris, 1 ad 1.5 cm latis, obscure acuminatis ; in- 

 florescentiis longe pedunculatis, paniculatis, paniculis circiter 

 30 cm longis, spiculis omnibus sessilibus, fasciculatis, brunneis, 

 circiter 5 mm longis, filamentis longe exsertis, usque ad 2.5 cm 

 longis. 



A densely tufted, perennial, glabrous plant, reaching a height 

 of at least 1 m, the roots stiff, fibrous, the leaves equitant, more 

 or less crowded in the lower 10 cm, up to 90 cm in length, 



1 to 1.5 cm wide, straight, coriaceous, smooth, gradually nar- 

 rowed upward to the obscurely acuminate apex, pale and 

 shining when dry. Inflorescence apparently about as long as 

 the leaves, the peduncle compressed, bearing a few, distant 

 leaves smaller than the basal leaves, the uppermost one bract- 

 like and about 5 cm long. Panicles brown, about 30 cm long, 

 the lower two branches from the axil of the uppermost reduced 

 leaves distant from the others, slender, up to 20 cm in length, 

 somewhat flexuous, perhaps somewhat nodding, the branchlets 

 subtended by a sheathing bract. Spikelets sessile on the ul- 

 timate branchlets, usually three in a group, brown, about 

 5 mm long. Empty glumes two, oblong-ovate to ovate, some- 

 what keeled, about 3 mm long, rather abruptly and slenderly 

 acuminate. Flowering glumes two, rarely three, 4 to 4.5 

 mm long. Ovary narrowly ovoid, glabrous, narrowed upward, 

 smooth, 3-angled ; style, including the three, slender, 2 mm long 

 arms, 5 mm in length. Stamens 3, the filaments very slender, 



2 to 2.5 cm long. Upper two or three glumes empty. 



Amboina, Salahoetoe, Rel. Robins. 1892, November 27, 1913, terrestrial 

 on open hillsides, most abundant at an altitude of about 900 meters. 



In aspect this species much resembles Vincentia malesiaca Stapf (Cla- 

 dium latifolium Merr.), but it is at once distinguished by its very long 

 and slender filaments, these the most striking character of the present 

 species. For a consideration of the genera Baumea and Vincentia in rela- 

 tion to Cladium, see Stapf in Journ. Linn. Soc. Bot. 42 (1914) 178, 179. 



THORACOSTACHYUM Kurz 



THORACOSTACHYUM LUCBANENSE (Elm.) Kukenth. in herb. comb, 

 nov. 



Mapania lucbanensis Elm. Lean. Philip. Bot. 2 (1909) 573. 



Amboina, Hitoe messen, Rel. Robins. 1889, October 18, 1913, in forests, 

 altitude about 250 meters. 



Previously known only from Luzon. The Amboina specimen has im- 

 mature spikelets, but agrees in all essential details with our full series 



