74 MR. J. MIERS ON THE BARRINGTONIACEÆ. 
‘petioles 1-2 lines long; the racemes, in the specimens, аге 10-19 in. long; but Vieillard 
says they are often "p 21 to 3 feet in length: he also states they are sericeous ; but 
in his specimen, as well as in all the others, they are glabrous and pruinosely opaque; the 
slender pedicels, $ in. apart, are generally 3—1 in. long, shorter in the younger flowers; 
the globose calycine limb is 4} lines in diameter, and splits into 3 lobes 5 lines long; the 
petals are 1 in. long, 6 lines broad, with the lateral margins retroflected the ovary is 23 
lines long, with 4 almost winged angles. Seemann's specimen of the fruit, apparently 
not ripe, accords with the description of УіеШага; it is oblong, acute at base, narrowed 
above, 2 in. long, 3 in. broad, crowned by calycine lobes, narrowly winged on its angles, 
and contains a single suspended seed with a mesopodal embryo. This fruit, according 
to Seemann, is poisonous, and used for stupifying fishes; it is called Vutu-ui-wai 
(Water-vutu). 
10. BUTONICA PROCERA, nob.: Barringtonia excelsa, Benth. (non Bl.), Lond. Journ. Bot. 
ii. 221: arbor elata, ramulis in summo сгерге foliosis: foliis majusculis, elongato- 
oblongis, apice breviter aut sensim acuminatis, infra medium spathulato-angustatis, 
imo obtusis vel rotundato-truncatis, marginibus revolutis, sub medium integris, 
superne crenato-serratis, chartaceis, supra pallide viridibus, opacis, nervis conspicuis 
divaricatis intra marginem nexis, costa supra plana, versus imum sensim incrassata, 
subtus pallidioribus; petiolo vix ullo: racemo subterminali solitario (vel interdum 
3 subaxillaribus congestim approximatis) ; rachi longissima, pendula, folio triplo lon- 
giore, glabra, acute angulata, striata; floribus inferioribus sparsis, superioribus 
crebrioribus; pedicellis brevissimis, crassis, ebracteatis, floribus hine subsessili- 
bus; calycis limbo primum globoso, integre clauso, dein in lobos 2 apice sspe 
bifidos coriaceos concavos pruinosos extus granulatos rupto; petalis 4, triplo longi- - 
oribus, oblongo-ovatis, albis, membranaceis, lateribus subretroflexis, unguibus tubo 
staminifero agglutinatis; staminibus, disco styloque ut in char. gen.; ovario infero, 
cylindrico, medio ventricoso, 8-costato, cinereo-pruinoso, 4-loculari, ovulis in quoque 
loculo 4 per paria axi pendulis: fructo ignoto. In insulis maris Pacifici: v. s. М 
herb. Hook. New Hebrides, in Tanna (Hinds) ; in hb. Mus. Brit. Tanna (Hinds). 
А very peculiar species, referred by Mr. Bentham to Barringtonia excelsa, Bl., which | 
is a very different plant. Hinds states that it is a large, lofty, handsome tree; it must 
not be confounded with specimens collected by Barclay at the same time in the same | 
island, which I have referred to В. samoénsis. Its leaves are 12-18 in. long, 81—51 mm. - 
broad, on petioles scarcely appreciable in length, being a short extension of the costa, | 
2 lines broad; the raceme is single, and nearly terminal іп Hinds's specimen; but he 1 
remarks, in a note, that he had seen three of these spicated racemes forming only a part 1 
of а very magnificent cluster of flowers; the rachis in the specimen is as long as the : 
leaves, somewhat slender, bearing many spicated flowers, almost sessile, the lower ones | 
1} in. apart, gradually closer upwards ; the calycine lobes are 4 lines long ; the petals | 
12 lines long, 5 lines broad; the outer series of stamens somewhat exceed the length of © 
the petals ; the circular disk supports on its outer margin the staminiferous tube ; and its : 
