1'"-^ Lbaflets of Philippine Botany [Vol. V, Akt. 93 



CONNARACEAE 



Connarus erianthus Elm. n. sp. 



A looping climber; stem 5 cm. thick, terete, bendable; 

 wood latericius except the thin whitish sapwood, porou?, 

 odorless and tasteless; bark relatively very thick, atropur- 

 pureus except the minutely checked dull brown surface, the 

 inner surface with a molasses colored juice; branches 

 slender, somewhat drooping but with suberect tips, the young 

 terminal portion densely testaceus woolly. Leaves 5 to 7-foliate, 

 alternate, ascending, 1 to 3 dm. long, the terminal ones 

 smaller, clothed with woolly hairs, thickened at the base; 

 leaflet descending, subchartaceous, nearly flat, the acute to 

 acuminate apex recurved, base rounded, shining and much 

 deeper green on the upper side, curing dull brown or reddish 

 so beneath, the young leaves densely covered on both sides 

 by a latericius brown tomentum which soon wears off 

 with age, entire, the average ones 1 dm. long by 3.5 cm. 

 wide across the middle or in the larger ones above the 

 middle, elliptic or the larger blades more obovately oblong 

 and nearly twice as long; petiolule 5 mm. long, densely 

 wool covered, very thick in proportion; midvein bold beneath, 

 grooved above, ultimately entirely glabrous on both sides; 

 lateral nerves 5 to 8 on each side, much ascending, also 

 conspicuous beneath and quite evident from above, tips more 

 or less united, minute reticulations very evident especially upon 

 the nether side. Panicle erect, exceeding the foliage, densely 

 erianthus, 1.5 dm. long, alternatingly branched from the 

 base, basal branches longer, all rigid, ascending, rather nu- 

 merously and shortly rebranched; pedicels about 5 mm. long, 

 they as well as the branchlets subtended by bracts; flowers 

 odorless, thick, early falling; calyx widely fusiform, nearly 

 free; the 5 ifnbricate sepals erect, very thick, glabrous and 

 black punctate on the inner side especially above the mid- 

 dle, oblong, nearly equal, apex blunt, reddish brown, woolly 

 tomentose on the exposed outer portion, 6 mm. long, 2.5 

 mm. wide at the middle, the basal portion united; corolla 

 forming a fa'?e tube 8 mm. long, free at the base and 

 above the middle, widest across the middle and usually re- 



