158 The Philippine Journal of Science 
The alliance of this species is apparently with Ardisia lanceolata Roxb. 
from which it is distinguished by many characters especially in its slender, 
more numerous nerves, and much larger flowers; the prominent calyx-tube; 
and the calyx-lobes in bud and in anthesis scarcely overlapping, but in 
young fruit distinctly imbricate. 
MAESA Forskal 
MAESA MEGAPHYLLA sp, nov. § Humaesa. . : 
Frutex scandens, glaber; foliis late ovatis, crasse coriaceis, 
integris, usque ad 20 cm longis, obtusis vel late obtuseque acu- 
minatis, basi rotundatis ad truncatis, nervis utrinque circiter 
7, prominentibus; inflorescentiis terminalibus, paniculatis, mul- 
tifloris, usque ad 35 cm longis, prophyllis magnis, haud cymbi- 
formis, petalis usque ad medium connatis cum sepalis glabris 
tenuissime lineatis. 
A scandent glabrous shrub, the branches stout, brown, red- 
dish-brown, or sometimes nearly black when dry, prominently 
lenticellate. Leaves broadly ovate, thickly coraceous, entire, 
brownish-olivaceous when dry, somewhat shining, 10 to 20 cm 
long, 7 to 13 cm wide, the base very broadly rounded or trun- 
cate, apex obtuse to shortly and broadly blunt-acuminate; lateral 
nerves about 7 on each side of the midrib, prominent; petioles 
3 to 6 cm long. Panicles terminal, very large, very many fiow- 
ered, up to 35 cm long, the primary branches up to 20 cm in 
length. Flowers white, their pedicels 1 to 1.5 mm long, some- 
what longer than the subtending bracteoles, the two prophylls 
subtending the flowers relatively large, ovate, acute or acumin- — 
ate, 15 mm long. Sepals ovate, obtuse, about 0.7 mm long, 
very slightly lineate, margins entirely glabrous. Petals united 
to the middle, the lobes ovate, rounded, about 1 mm long, slen- 
derly lineate. 
Leyte, Tigbao, near Tacloban, Wenzel 1275, 1510 (type) May 29 and 
July 10, 1915, the latter indicated as growing in forests at sea level. 
A very characteristic species in the alliance with Maesa cumingii Mez, 
well characterized by its unusually large, coriaceous, entire, broadly ovate 
leaves, and its very large many-flowered panicles. 
