314 MERRILL. 



CHONEMORPHA <;. Dan. 

 Chonemorpha elastica sp. nov. 



Frutex alte scandens, ramie ramulisque rubro-brunneis, glabris; Eoliia 

 membranaceis vel submembranaceis ovato-ellipticia vel obovato-elliptieis. 

 15 ad 20 cm longis, breviter acuminatis, basi rotundatis, subtus plus 

 minus pilosis; ilorilms albis, 3.5 ad 3 cm diametro; calycibus 5-partitis. 



A scandent shrub of large size. Branches and branchlets reddish- 

 brown, glabrous, usually shining. Leaves opposite, membranaceous or 

 submembranaceous, ovate-elliptic or obovate-elliptic, 15 to 20 cm long, 8 

 to 15 cm wide, entire, the base rather broad, rounded, the apex shortly 

 acuminate, the upper surface glabrous, slightly shining, the lower surface 

 sliglitlv paler and somewhat pilose; petioles rather slender, 2.5 to 4 cm 

 long; nerves about 10 on each side of the midrib, distinct on both surfaces, 

 (he reticulations very distinct beneath. Cymes terminal, few-flowered, 

 about cm long, glabrous or nearly so. the bracteoles more or less pubes- 

 cent, iibntit :! iiini long. Flowers white, fragrant, their pedicels slender, 

 1 cm long or less. Calyx 5-partite, the lobes oblong, somewhat acuminate, 

 the margins above somewhat ciliate. about 5 mm long, 2 mm wide, united 

 below. Corolla-tube !) to Id mm long, swollen and about 3 mm in diam- 

 eter in the lower third, contracted above, glabrous outside, inside with 

 reflexed hairs below the insertion of the stamens; lobes 5, obliquely 

 obovate. spreading, about 15 cm long, 12 mm wide. Stamens 5, the fila- 

 ments short, inserted at about the lower one-fourth of the tube; anthers 

 narrowly-lanceolate, acuminate, 1 mm long, sagittate at the base. Disk 

 entire, truncate. 1 mm high. Ovaries and style 4 mm long, the ovaries 

 two, free, united by the style; ovules many. Fruit unknown. 



Mindanao. District of Zamboanga, Dumanquilu Bay, Tigbtlubu, For. Bur. 

 12351 Hutchinson, May, li)0S, in forests at an altitude of about 40 in: District 

 of Davao. //. X. Peabody, .July. 1806, leaves only. Basilan, P. L. Sherman, .Inly, 

 1903, leaves only; also reported from Mindanao and from Tawi-Tavvi by Sherman. 



So far as is known at present this is the most important rubber producing 

 vine in the Philippines. It is one of the two species considered by P. L. Sherman 

 in his paper on "Gutta-Percha and Rubber in the Philippine Islands," 1 -' and an 

 illustration is given by him. 1. e. fig. S3, of leaf specimens collected on Basilan 

 Island. This specimen, as well as the one collected by Mr. Peabody, cited above, 

 were previously provisionally identified as Chonemorpha, but the determination 

 could not be verified until flowering specimens were received. Mr. Sherman 

 reports this vine from Mindanao, Basilan, and Tawi-Tawi. but states thai only 

 the natives of Tawi-Tawi understand the commercial value of the product, and 

 that they gather the latex and mix it with guttapercha. No information is at 

 hand as to the amount exported, but it is probably very small. According to Mr. 

 Sherman's notes, the vine attains a length of from 150 to 200 feet, and a diameter 

 of from (i to S inches. 



Apparently allied to Chonemorpha (jriffithii Hook. f.. of British India, especially 

 in its deeply cleft calyx, but the branches not hispid. Without comparison with 

 the type of Hooker's species, it is impossible to give other differential characters, 

 as Hooker's description is too short and imperfect. 



a Publications of the Bureau of Government Laboratories, 7 (1903), 36-39. 



