xni.c f 3 Merrill: Flora of Loh Fau Mountain 137 



utrinque circiter 6, utrinque cystolithis linearibus irregulariter 

 dispositis instructis; inflorescentiis 2 axillaribus, tenuibus, pe- 

 tiolo subaequantibus, floribus in capitulis paucis distantibus 2 

 ad 5 mm diametro dispositis. 



An erect, simple or sparingly branched, succulent, glabrous, 

 dioecious herb about 20 cm high, the stipules, if any, caducous. 

 Stems weak when dry, slender. Leaves opposite, those of each 

 pair slightly unequal, ovate, membranaceous, greenish-olivaceous, 

 shining, 2.5 to 4 cm long, 1.5 to 2.5 cm wide, base rounded, 

 3-nerved, apex acute or somewhat acuminate, margins coarsely 

 serrate, about 6 prominent teeth on each side, the lateral nerves 

 reaching to about the upper three-fourths of the leaf, both sur- 

 faces with numerous, linear, irregularly disposed cystoliths; pe- 

 tioles slender, 1 to 2.5 cm long, that of the smaller leaf shorter 

 than the one of the larger leaf in each pair. Pistillate inflores- 

 cences axillary, slender, about as long as the petioles, each bear- 

 ing one or two, rarely three, heads of flowers and fruits 2 to 5 

 mm in diameter, the flowers not at all scorpoid in arrangement. 

 Pedicels about 1 mm long. Large perianth segment about 1 

 mm long, the other two minute. Achene subelliptic, compressed, 

 subacute, about 0.8 mm long. 



Kwangtung Province, Loh Fau Mountain (Lofaushan), Merrill 11036 

 (type), 10771, Levine 1806, at the bases of very wet cliffs in damp shaded 

 ravines, and under overhanging boulders on open slopes, altitude 900 to 

 1,100 meters, August 12 to 17, 1917. 



This species somewhat resembles some forms of Pilea pumila A. Gray, 

 but differs totally from that species in its entirely different, non-scorpoid 

 inflorescences. The capitate arrangement of the flowers is characteristic. 



6* 



V 



LAURACEAE 



NEOLITSEA Merrill 



/ 



NEOLITSEA PULCHELLA (Meissn.) comb. nov. 



Litsea jmlchella Meissn. in DC. Prodr. 15* (1864) 224. 



Kwangtung Province, Loh Fau Mountain (Lofaushan), Merrill 102S9, 

 in flower, October 28, 1916, Merrill 10840, Levine 1819, in fruit, August 23, 

 1917, in damp forested ravines, altitude about 1,000 meters. 



The type of Meissner's species was from Hongkong, and from his 

 description it is evident that he saw no staminate flowers. In our material 

 the fertile stamens are six in number, and accordingly the species is 

 transferred to Neolitsea. 



\$y NEOLITSEA SUBCAUDATA sp. nov. 



Arbor circiter 5 m alta, glabra; foliis alternis, chartaceis ad 

 subcoriaceis, oblongis ad lanceolatis, nitidis, apice tenuiter sub- 

 caudato-acuminatis, basi acutis, 3-nervis, utrinque nee profunde 



