64 



above, reddish beneath. Petioles nearly smooth. Stipules 

 none. Peduncles terminal, springing from the centre of a 

 4-leaved verticil which terminates the branch, and of which 

 two opposite leaves are smaller. The spike is unilateral, 

 about 4-flowered, recurved, smooth ; each flower sessile on 

 the upper side of the clavate peduncle, which is there thick- 

 ened, and, as it were, scooped out to receive it, and is attenu- 

 ated downwards to the point of insertion into the branch. 

 Bracts none, or very minute. Calyx smooth, trifid, laciniae 

 acute. Corolla of a light flesh colour, composed of 3 lanceo- 

 late, ovate, acuminate, spreading petals. Stamens 3, alterna- 

 ting with the petals, erect, scarcely so long as the corolla. 

 Anthers 2-celled, acute, cordate at the base. Style erect, 

 equal to the stamens. Stigma obtuse. Ovarium long, linear, 

 inferior. Capsule oblong, obtusely 3-angled, 3-celled, 3- 

 valved, many-seeded, the dissepiments opposite to the valves. 

 Seeds attached to a central, columnar, 3-sided placenta. 



Obs. This plant differs considerably in habit from the 

 other species of Sonerila, in having an erect, slender, brachiate 

 stem, and small lanceolate leaves, not oblique at the base as 

 in most of the genus. The uppermost leaves are quaternate, 

 forming a kind of involucre to the slender peduncle which 

 springs from their centre. 



SONERILA MOLUCCANA. Roxh. 



Subcaulescens, villosa, foliis oblique cordatis integris oppositis 

 altero minore, pedunculis axillaribus, racemis unilater- 

 alibus. Roxh. Fl. Lid. v. 1. p. 122. 



Pouh. Malay. — Native of the moist shady forests of Pulo 

 Penang. — A small herbaceous plant, whose root is fibrous, 

 and whose stem does not exceed a few inches in length : every 

 part is thickly covered with red hair. Leaves petiolate, op- 

 posite, one much smaller and rounder than the other, un- 

 equally cordate, acute, very entire, of a deep green on the 

 upper surface, red beneath, with quintuple nerves. Petioles 

 round and hairy. Stipides none. Peduncles generally from 

 the axils of the smaller leaves, erect, bearing 1-3 unilateral, 

 somewhat recurved, racemes, and furnished about the middle 



