G. H. Ostenfeld: Contributions to West Australian Botany. II. 17 



Derby, in the savannah forest (No. 1179, 7. Nov. 1914). A 

 coarse climber found climbing in Bauhinia Cunninghamii and many 

 other trees. The ripe drupes are orange-red. 



Hernandiaceæ. 



Gyrocarpus americanus Jacq., Select. Amer. (1763) 282, tab. 

 178 fig. 80, emend. ; F. v. Müller, Sec. Gens. Austr. PI. (1889) 87; G. 

 Jaquinii Roxb. Corom. I (1795) 2, tab. 1; Benth. Fl. Austr. II 

 (1864) 505; W. V. Fitzgerald, in Journ. Müll. Bot.^Soc. 

 Ill (1903) 24, et aliis; G. acuminatus Meissner in D. C. / 



Prodr. XVI (1864) 248. 



Broome, a rather low tree with light-coloured 

 bark and light wood (No. 1161, 5. Nov. 1914). 



Derby, a rather low tree with light-coloured 

 bark and soft wood, in full flower and with ripe 

 fruits (see Fig. 5) and even fully developed new leaves 

 (No. 1174, 7. Nov. 1914). 



The monotypic Gyrocarpus is usually called G. 

 Jacquinii Roxb. which name was created to include all 

 the hitherto described forms, as it was suggested that 

 they all belonged to one species; but as the name G. 

 americanus Jacq. is the oldest, it must be preferred 

 to all the others, as correctly done by F. v. Müller 

 (Sec. Census., 87). 



The specimens collected both at Broome and at 

 Derby agree in the nearly glabrous leaves, which are 

 entire, broadly cordate and distinctly acuminate. If 

 we choose to divide the species into subspecies, they 

 may be named subsp. acuminatus Meissn. (1. c); they 

 seem to differ considerably from the two Australian Cywcarpus 

 forms described by R. Brown (Prodrom. Fl. Nov. americanus 

 Holl. 405) the leaves of which are tomentose, at least A r ipo q fruit 

 on the underside. Å VO y* 



In E. Cheel's paper (Plants, in Results of Dr. (Natsfze). 

 E. Mjöberg's Swedish sc. Expeditions to Australia 

 1910—13, K. Svenska Vet. Akad. Handl. Bd. 52, No. 10, 1916, 

 pi. I, figs. 3 — 4) two photos from the Kimberley region, taken 

 by Dr. Mjöberg, illustrate Gyrocarpus, the so-called "cork-tree" (on 

 account of the spongy bark), in leafless and leafy stage; they give 

 a very good impression of its general habit. 



Dansk Botanisk Arkiv, Bd. 2. Nr. 8. 2 



