FLORA VITIENSIS. 165 
venosis, petiolorum basi stipulacea brevi rotundata; corymbo terminali brevi, trifido vel trichotomo ; 
corollz tubo elongato supra medium ampliato calyce triplo longiore.—A rbor 30-pedalis, affinis F. Zey- 
lanice, coroll tubi parte tenui longe exserta, brevior tamen est, corolla tota 24-8 pollicaris nec 4-5 
pollicaris, antherze angustiores videntur.— Carrissa grandis, Berter. Besleria laurifolia, Soland. Prim. 
Fl. Ins. Pacif. p. 267, et in Parkins. Drawings of Tahit. Plants, t. 58 (ined.).—Nomen vernac. Tahi- 
tense, * Pua,” Vitiense ** Bua."— Bua or Sandalwood Bay of Vanua Levu, and Viti Levu (Seemann ! 
n. 308; Harvey!). Also collected in the Marquesas (Barclay!), Loyalty Islands (Sir G. Grey !), 
Society Islands (Banks and Solander! Bidwill!), and New Caledonia (Forster! Sir E. Home !).* 
A middle-sized tree, which is very much esteemed by all Polynesian natives on account of its sweet- 
scented flowers, which on opening are pure white and gradually turn cream-coloured. In Viti the Bua 
blossoms in September and Seibert and one of the,months of the Fijian calendar is occasionally called the 
Vulai Bua, or Bua month. The flowers, or rather corollas, are gathered after they have dropped on the 
ground, and brought home in baskets. They are tubular, white, and fleshy, and are either strung into 
necklaces, which retain their delicious and powerful perfume long after they are dry, or they are placed 
while still fresh in cocoa-nut oil, in order to impart scent to it. Sandalwood and Bua flowers are often put 
into the same vessel of oil. The abundance of the tree (which yields a hard, white wood) at Sandalwood 
Bay may have given rise to its native name “ Bua,’’—a form of “ Pua,” (literally * ree flower”), by which 
the plant is known in the Society Islands. 
2. F. gracilipes, A. Gray, l.c.; scandens; foliis lato-ovatis subcoriaceis obtusis v. apiculato- 
acutis basi in petiolum longum abrupte decurrentibus; cyma terminali sessili co-flora, foliis multo 
breviore; calyce parvo; corolla (viridiuscula) e tubo angusto superne late obconico-ampliata ; stami- 
nibus subexsertis; stigmate capitellato; ovario prorsus 1-loculari, placentis arcte parietalibus.—F. viri- 
diflora, Seem. in Bonplandia, vol. ix. p. 259.—Ovalau, on the outskirts of woods (Seemann! n. 306). 
Flowers greenish-white ; filaments curved, green ; anthers yellow. 
III. Couthovia, Gray in Proceed. Amer. Acad. vol. iv. p. 324, et vol. v. p. 320. Calyx 5-partitus, 
segmentis imbricatis rotundatis crassis, marginibus tenuibus. Corolla brevis, 5-fida, zstivatione 
valvata. Stamina 5, tubo v. fauci inserta; filamenta brevia v. brevissima; anther oblong. Ova- 
rium 2-loculare, ovatum, stylo apiculatum. Stigma subcapitatum, 2-lobum. Ovula in placentis 
medio dissepimento adnatis oo, amphitropa. Fructus clavatus, drupaceus, basi attenuatus, sar- 
cocarpio tenui, putamine lignoso percrasso, 2-1-loculari, 2—1-sperma. Semina subcylindracea.— 
Arbores glabre, stipulis Labordee, foliis subcoriaceis penninerviis, ovatis v. obovatis, cyma terminali e 
radiis 2—4 apice cc-floris, floribus parvis haud pedicellatis, corolla (alba) fere Strychnorum breviflorarum. 
“The materials collected by Dr. Seemann,” says Asa Gray, l. c., * comprising flowers and fruit, con- 
firm the genus Couthovia and fix its position in the vicinity of Strychnos, calling, however, for some exten- 
sion of the character of Bentham’s third tribe. There are indications of dimorphism or incipient difference 
in sex in the flowers examined. Some corollas of C. corynocarpa are beardless or nearly so, and have the 
anthers almost sessile in the throat, while others of the same cyme are conspicuously bearded in the throat, 
and their equally subexserted anthers are borne on filaments of their own length, inserted some way down 
on the tube. The style is sometimes slender and exserted, sometimes shorter or very short; the ovary in 
the latter is certainly fertile." 
1. C. corynocarpa, A. Gray, lc. vol. v. p. 320 (Tab. XXXII.) ; ramis fastigiatis ; calycis 
segmentis ciliolatis; antheris oblongis, basi emarginatis, apice apiculatis. Garínera pyramidalis, 
Seem. in Bonplandia, vol. ix. p. 257, et vol. x. p. 37.—Nomen vernac. Vitiense, “ Boloa."— Interior 
of Viti Levu, in the Namosi Valley (Seemann! n. 303). 
Drupe eaten by the wild pigeons. : i 
EXPLANATION OF Puare XXXII., representing Couthovia corynocarpa, A. Gray, from specimens col- 
lected by me.— 1, an entire flower; 2, flower, laid open and the calyx removed ; 8, a stamen ; 4, cross sec- 
tion of ovary; 5, ripe fruit; 6 and 7, cross and longitudinal section of ripe fruit,—all, with the exception of 
5, 6, and 7, magnified. 
