2742 



Leaflets of Philippine Botany 



[Vol. VIII, Art. 115 



: 



thick; branches few and at the top, slender, horizontally spread- 

 ing, green, sparingly rebranched, rigid. Leaves similarly dis- 

 posed, opposite, scattering along the branches, chartaceous, 

 only the very abrupt short but sharply acute tips recurved, 

 broadly rounded and cordate at the base, curing greenish 

 on both sides, in the fresh state a trifle paler green be- 

 neath, glabrous, entire, ovately oblong, 2 to 3 dm long, 10 

 to 13 cm wide toward the base; midrib raised beneath, 

 plane above, smooth and yellowish green even in the dry 

 state; lateral nerves of 12 pairs, divaricate, their tips as- 

 cendingly curved and faintly interarching, cross bars and re- 

 ticulations obscure; petiole thick, glabrous, about 5 mm long, 

 grooved on the upper side, curing reddish brown or black 

 at the base; interaxillary stipule rim-like, short, rigid, glab- 

 rous. Inflorescence terminal, subpendant, rigid, in the bud 

 state reddish brown, 5 to 8 cm long, strict, spicate; rachis 

 thick, terete, gradually tapering to the distal end, glabrous, 

 brown when dry, flowers rather densely clustered all around 

 the rachis and subtended by bracteoles; pedicels 5 mm long, 

 relatively very thick, also terete, glabrous, slightly enlarged 

 toward the di-tal end, toward the base occasionally provided 

 with minute bracts; bud calyx cup shaped, imbricate, 6 mm 

 across, one half as high; sepals glabrous, 5, truncate at the 

 base, broadly rounded at the apex, convex on the dorsal 

 side, the middle basal portion quite thick and rigid, much 

 thinner along the entire or minutely ciliate margins, nearly 

 equal in size, 4.5 ram across, usually wider than long; corolla 

 bud cylindrically elliptic, 1 to 1.5 cm long, 6 mm thick, 

 broadly rounded at the apex, united except at the unequal- 

 ly 5-segmented apex, rigidly coriaceous, also glabrous on 

 the exterior, valvate except the slightly imbricate distal 

 ends; stamens 5, included; filaments inserted upon the basal 

 portion of the corolla and falling with it, glabrous, 3 mm 

 long, flattened toward the base, pointed toward the apex; 

 anther oblong, 5 mm long, 1 mm wide, deeply bilobed at 

 the basi fixed base, obtusely rounded at the apex, laterally 

 dehiscent, strongly grooved along the median lines; pistil 1 

 cm long, likewise glabrous, the ovary portion bottle shaped 

 and terminated by a 2.5 mm long neck bearing an enlarged 

 disk like stigma. 



