| MALVACEAE 255 
This species is widely distributed in the Philippines at low 
altitudes in waste places, open damp lands in and about towns, 
etc. It is probably not a native of the Archipelago and was 
introduced in the prehistoric period. . 
Illustrative specimen from Manila, Luzon, December, 1913, 
here known as castoli (Merrill: Species Blancoanae No. 327). 
KOSTELETZKYA Presl 
Hibiscus batacensis Blanco Fl. Filip. (1837) 544 (sp. nov.); ed. 2 (1845) 
380; ed. 8, 2 (1879) 334=KOSTELETZKYA BATACENSIS (Blanco) 
F.-Vill. Novis. App. (1880) 24. ; 
This species is of very local occurrence in Luzon, and has al 
the appearance of an introduced weed. It was described by 
Blanco from Batac, Ilocos Norte Province, has been collected 
once in Ilocos Sur by Mearns, and once in Pasay, Rizal Province, 
Luzon, a town bordering the City of Manila to the south. A 
duplicate of Mearns’s specimen was sent to Kew, and was re- 
ported as not matching any named species in the Kew Herbarium. 
The species, then, is apparently known only from the Philip- 
‘pines, yet I am of the opinion that it is not a native of the 
Archipelago, but that it was accidentally introduced from 
Mexico, probably from Acapulco, through the medium of the 
Acapulco-Manila galleons. 
Illustrative specimen from Manila, Luzon, December, 1914 
(Merrill: Species Blancoanae No. 877). 
THESPESIA Correa 
Hibiscus populneus Linn.; Blanco Fl. Filip. (1837) 544=THESPESIA 
POPULNEA (Linn.) Corr.; Blanco op. cit. ed. 2 (1845) 381; ed. 3, 
2 (1879) 387, t. 247. 
Thespesia banalo Blanco Fl. Filip. ed. 2 (1845) 382 (sp. nov.); ed. 3, 2 
(1879) 838, t. 269=THESPESIA POPULNEA (Linn.) Corr. 
After a careful examination of a very full series of Philippine 
specimens I can recognize but a single species here; Fernandez- 
Villar, however, reduced Thespesia banalo Blanco to T. macro- 
phylla Blume, but following Blume’s differential diagnoses of 
T. populnea and T. macrophylla Blanco’s T. banalo is the same 
as T. populnea, as Blanco described his species as having seven- 
nerved leaves and long pedicels. There are two forms in the 
Philippines, one with pedicels about as long as the petioles, 
and one with much shorter pedicels, but I am not convinced. 
that two species are represented. Along the seashore through- 
out the Philippines. It is commonly known as banago or banalo. 
‘Illustrative specimen from Manila, Luzon, September, 1914 
(Merrill: Species Blancoanae No. 33). | 
