436 The Philippine Journal of Science 1920 
upper surface dark olivaceous to nearly black when dry, very 
conspicuously shining, the lower surface slightly shining and 
very dark brown, 7 to 11 cm long, 4.5 to 5.5 em wide, the base 
acute or somewhat decurrent, the apex very shortly and obtusely 
acuminate; lateral nerves about 10 on each side of the midrib, 
slender, anastomosing, the primary reticulations lax; petioles 
2 to 2.5 cm long; stipules ovate to ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, 
about 8 mm long. Fruits umbellately arranged at the tips of 
the branchlets, usually about 4 to each branchlet, globose, fleshy, 
about 2 cm in diameter, black when dry, their pedicels 2 to 2.5 
em long, the pericarp nearly smooth, the seeds apparently few. 
BuCAS GRANDE, Bur. Sci, 35074 Ramos & Pascasio, June 11, 
1919, in dry forests. 
A species in some respects suggestive of Morinda volubilis 
Merr., but with entirely different infructescences. It is strongly 
characterized by its very shiny leaves, the upper surfaces of 
which appear as if they were varnished. 
MUSSAENDA Linnaeus 
MUSSAENDA ACUMINATISSIMA sp. nov. 
Frutex erectus, perspicue villosis; foliis in paribus subaequa- 
libus, chartaceis, ovatis, usque ad 16 cm longis, basi decurrento- 
- acuminatis, apice tenuiter subcaudato-acuminatis utrinque plus 
minusve villosis, nervis utrinque 10 ad 12 subtus perspicuis; 
cymis pedunculatis, circiter 8 cm diametro, bracteis lineari- 
lanceolatis, acuminatis, circiter 7 mm longis ; floribus 3.5 ad 4 
cm longis, sepalis lineari-lanceolatis, acuminatis, persistentibus, 
1 ad 1.5 cm longis, sepala foliacea longe stipitata, limbo ovato ad 
elliptico-ovato, 4 ad 6 cm longo. 
An erect shrub, 3 m high (fide Ramos), most parts prominently 
villous. Branches dark reddish-brown, lenticellate, glabrous, 
the branchlets densely ferruginous-villous. Leaves of each pair 
subequal, ovate, chartaceous, olivaceous when dry, 9 to 16 cm 
long, 5 to 8.5 cm wide, base rather abruptly contracted and long 
decurrent-acuminate, apex slenderly subcaudate-acuminate, the 
upper surface villous with scattered hairs, the lower surface 
densely villous with longer hairs on the midrib and nerves, the 
hairs on the reticulations more scattered; lateral nerves 10 to 
12 on each side of the midrib, prominent on the lower surface; 
petioles 1.5 to 2 cm long, villous ; stipules oblong, acute or acu- 
minate, about 1.5 cm long. Cymes rather many-flowered, about 
8 cm wide, villous, the indumentum castaneous to ferruginous, 
dense on the younger parts, the peduncles about 2.5 cm long; 
