KEPORT ON THE BOTANY OF THE SOUTH-EASTERN MOLUCCAS. 1 53 



LYTHRACE^]. 

 Pemphis acidula, Forst. 



Pemphis acidula, Forst.; Miq., Fl. Ind. Bat., i. 1, p. 619; Benth., Fl. Austr., iii. p. 300; Hook, f., 

 Fl. Brit. Ind., ii. p. 573; Oliver, Fl. Trop. Afr., ii. p. 482; Nadeaud, Enum. PL Tahiti, p. 78. 



Areou ; Ki ; Maru ; Timor Latjt. — An exceedingly common seaside shrub in many 

 parts of the tropics of the Old World, including the eastern coast of Africa. It is also 

 in many of the coral islands of Polynesia, though not exclusively on coral islands, as the 

 Eev. T. Powell states on a label in the Kew Herbarium, for Barclay collected it in Tahiti, 

 and Wright collected it in Loochoo, and Cbamisso collected it in Romanzoff Island. See- 

 mann does not include it in his Flora Vitiensis, nor are there specimens thence in the Kew 

 Herbarium. Dr Coppinger, of H.M.S. " Nassau," collected it in Da Lise Island, Gloriosa 

 Group, and Poivre Island, Amirante group, in 1882. Seed-vessel small and dry, con- 

 taining numerous small, light, angular seeds. Darwin, as quoted by Henslow (Annals 

 of Natural History, i. p. 340), says of this shrub: "No sooner has a new reef become 

 sufficiently elevated by the accumulation of sand upon its surface, but this plant is sure 

 to be the first to take possession of the soil." Ipomcea biloba (Ipomoea p>cs-capra) is 

 another plant that forms part of the earliest phanerogamic vegetation in such situations. 



SAMYDACE^E. 

 Casearia sp. 



Moa ; Lakor. — The genus Casearia is a large one, generally spread in the tropics, 

 but'most numerous in America. 



CUCURBITACE^E. 



Luffa segyptiaca, Miller. 



Luffa asgyptiaca, Miller; Miq., Fl. Ind. Bat,, i. p. 666 ; Benth., Fl. Austr., iii. p. 310 ; Book, f., Fl. 



Brit. Ind., ii. p. 614 ; Oliver, Fl. Trop. Afr., ii. p. 530. 

 Luffa cylindrica, Roam., Synops., ii. p. 63. 

 Luffa insularum, A. Gray, U.S. Expl. Exped., Bot. i. p. 644. 



Ki ; Larat ; W t etter ; Timor Laut.— Commonly cultivated throughout the tropics 

 for the fruit, which is eaten in a young state. The ripe fruit is ultimately fibrous and 

 very light, and the plant is consequently very widely dispersed in a wild state. There 

 are several allied species not easily distinguishable in the absence of ripe fruit. Luffa 

 insularum is a common maritime form in the Fiji, Tahiti, Tongan Islands, &c. Cogniaux 

 (in DC. Monogr. Phanerog., iii. p. 456) retains Pcoemer's name, Luffa cylindrica, for this 

 species, reducing to it a number of species of various botanists. 



(bot. CHALL. EXP. PART III. — 1885.) ^ -" 



