75 



attenuated into a petiole at the base, very entire, tomentose, 

 striated with parallel nerves, which run nearly longitudinally, 

 but diverge from a central one. Petioles canaliculate, 

 obtusely carinate, sheathing at the base. Scape erect, round, 

 tomentose, verticillately panicled. Peduncles alternately 

 semiverticillate, divaricate, and spreading. Flowers sessile : 

 on hermaphrodite or male plants fascicled, on female ones soli- 

 tary. Beneath each semiverticil is a large floral leaf, which is 

 ovate, acute, and contracted at the base into a flat, straight, 

 petiole-like unguis which embraces the stem. Perianth 6- 

 parted; the 3 inner laciniae petaliform, white, spreading. 

 Stamens 6 : filaments flat, dilated at the base. Styles 3, short. 

 Stigmas 3. In the female plant, the calyx embraces a globular 

 herry which is 3-celled, each cell 1-seeded. 



Obs. The true place of this plant is somewhat ambiguous, 

 and I am doubtful whether it can be admitted as a genuine 

 species of Veratrum. It does not, however, agree exactly 

 with any other genus of the same family ; in habit it is some- 

 what like Alisma. 



MEMECYLON C^RULEUM. W. J. 



OCTANDRIA MoNOGYNIA. 



Foliis cordatis amplexicaulibus, pedunculis axillaribus bre- 

 vibus, pedicellis oppositis divaricatis brevibus, fructibus 

 ovatis. 



Kulit nipees. Malay. — Native of Pulo Penang. — A liand- 

 some shrub, 10-12 feet high, with round, smooth branches. 

 Leaves opposite, subsessile, about five inches long, cordate, 

 amplexicaul, oblong, acute, very entire, margin reflexed, 

 coriaceous, very smooth, deep green and shining above, 

 lateral nerves inconspicuous, uniting at their extremities into 

 a line which runs parallel to the margin. Stipules none. 

 Peduncles axillary, solitary, short, few-flowered : pedicels 

 short and thick, opposite, somewhat verticillate, divaricate, 

 forming a kind of corymbiform head. Flowers blue; bracts 

 opposite, short, acute. Calyx superior, coloured, smooth, 

 nearly entire, becoming, by age, more distinctly 4-toothed. 

 Corolla deep blue, 4-petaled, spreading; petals broad, ovate. 



