70 ROBINSON. 



325J f , Whitford 103, Williams 440, 111, Elmer 6640, For. Bur. 1214 Borden, For. 

 Bur. 2215 Meyer, Leiberg 6050, Merrill Dec. Philip. For. Fl. 188 Borden. Mindoro, 

 Mount Halcon, Merrill 5644, For. Bur. 4380, 4416 Merritt; Mount Poloug, For. 

 Bur. 9963 Merritt; without further locality, For. Bur. 12122 Merritt. Negbos, 

 Mount Silay, Whitford 1553. Mindanao, Province of Misamis, Mount Malindang, 

 For. Bur. 4551, 4682 Mearns & Hutchinson; District of Davao, Mount Apo,, 

 Copcland 1064, •• n.: Lake Lanao, Camp Keithley, Mrs. Clemens s. n. Basilax, 

 Santa Isabela to Tipu, For. Bur. 3996 Hutchinson. 



It is extremely doubtful if the specific names here used are really the oldest, 

 although generally accepted, but the earlier names are at least in some cases of 

 doubtful identity and it is not possible here to form any opinion upon them. 

 There might also be difficulty over the generic name. Chloranthus, as such, dates 

 from 1787. Nigrina of Thunberg is at least in part cogeneric with it, but con- 

 siderable doubt exists regarding his original species, the only one published before 

 1787. There is an older genus Nigrina of Linnaeus, published in 1767, but 

 usually reduced to Melasma of Bergius, published in the same year, and the name 

 would therefore be available under the Vienna code, though not under the 

 American, for use instead of Chloranthus, if Thunberg's genus is really identical 

 with the latter. 



2. ASCARINA Forst. 



Ascarina philippinensis sp. nov. 



Inflorescentiae spicate in paniculis fasciculatis disposita?, bracteatse, 

 foliis multo breviores; floribus femineis in rhachide admodum immersis, 

 ovario sessili subgloboso uniloeulari, semen unicum pendulum continente ; 

 foliis oppositis, basi acutis decurrentibusque apice breviter acuminatis, 

 margine basi excepta serratis, petiolis caulem vaginantibus, caule nodosa 

 Flowers sessile, borne in fascicled panicles, bracts at the nodes of the 

 inflorescence unequal, the uppermost usually much the longest, even folia- 

 ceous; female flowers alone found, with no true perianth, but encircled 

 at the base by a shallow enlargement of the rachis, ovary sessile, globose, 

 2.5 mm in diameter, stigma subterminal, sessile, surrounded by a flattened 

 triangular expansion, 0.G mm wide; ovary 1-celled, with one subterminal 

 pendulous ovule. 



A small tree 6 m high, with a nodose stem 12 cm in diameter, the 

 young branches terete or somewhat quadrangular, their bark gray or 

 reddish, striate; leaves papyraceous, elliptic or oblong, 6.6-9 cm long, 

 3-3.8 em wide, borne on stipulate petioles 4-9 mm long, which are connate 

 at the base and sheath the stem, acute and somewhat decurrent at the 

 base, at the apex somewhat abruptly contracted into a rounded or retuse 

 mucronate acumen, the margins more or less revolute, glandular-serrate 

 except along the basal fourth, dull-bluish-green on the upper surface, 

 beneath densely brown-lepidote. 



Type collected at an elevation of 1950 m on Mount Apo, District of Davao, 

 Mindanao, by R. S. Williams, no. 2541, March 31, 1905. N. v., (Bogobo) maidong. 



Through the courtesy of Lieut.-Col. D. Prain, director of the Royal Botanic 

 Gardens, Kew, a portion of this collection was compared with the material there, 

 and confirmed as "a species of Ascarina quite distinct from any at Kew, but 

 nearest to A. polystachya Forst,, differing by the much shorter spikes and less 

 tapering base of the leaf." 



