212 Materials for a Flora of the Malayan Peninsula. 



Cymes glabrous or glabrescent, 4 to 6 iu. in diam., the branches oppo- 

 site ; bracts minute, persistent. Flowers "25 in. in diam., glabrous. 

 Stamens 4, perfect; the /i/atr/ew^s longer than the petals and style, the 

 4 staminodes minute, Eipe cocci about '5 in. long, keeled. Seeds 

 oblong, the nucleus basal, much smaller than the oblong wing. Tetra- 

 merista panicul"ta, Kurz in Journ. Bot for 1875, p. 333. 



Malacca; Maingay (Kew Distr-ib.) No. 290. 



A rare plant known only by Maingay's scanty specimens. 



2. Tetractomia Roxburghii, Hook. fil. Fl. Br. Ind. I., 491. A tree 

 30 to 80 feet high ; young blanches rather stout, glabrous, their 

 bark pale, rough. Leaves coriaceous, cuneate-obovate, sometimes obo- 

 vate-elliptic, the apex always broad and rounded, and very shortly 

 and bluntly apiculate, much narrowed to the petiole ; both surfaces 

 glabious, rather pale when dry, the upper glabrous, the lower glabres- 

 cent with numerous and rather large black dots : main nerves 7 to 9 

 pairs, oblique, straight, not promitietit: length 2'5 to 5, rarely 6 in., 

 breadth 1"5 to 25, rarely 3 in. ; petiole "5 to 1 in., rarely 1"25 in. 

 Cymes glabrous in the lower, pubescent in the upper part, 3 or 4 in. in 

 diam., pedunculate; bracts minute, per.sistent. Flowers '13 in. in 

 diiim., puberulous. Stamens 8, the alternate row imperfect, minute 

 and attached to the petals. Rijje cocci 1 to 3 from a flower, about 

 •25 in. long Seeds oblong, nucleus rather shorter than the wing, 

 Hook. fil. Icones Plantar. 1512. Melicope tetrandra, Roxb. Fl. Ind. II. 

 257. 



Penang, Singapore, Perak. 



A much more common plant than the last, with smaller flowers 

 and fruit, and with leaves not only smaller but much more obovate. 



3. Melicope, Forst. 

 Shrubs. Leaves opposite (in the Indian species), 1-3-foliolate, pel- 

 lucid-punctate. Flowers small, in axillary cymes or panicles. Calyx 

 4-lobed or 4-partite. Petals 4, sessile, spreading, valvate or imbricate. 

 Disc large, entire or 8 lobed, or obsolete. Stamens 8, inserted at the base 

 of the disk, those opposite the petals shorter, filaments subulate or 

 flattened ; anthers oblong or cordate. Ovary 4-celled, deeply 4-lobed ; 

 style basilar, or styles 4, subterminal, more or less combined ; stigma 

 capitate, 4-lobed ; ovules 2 in each, all collateral or superposed. Fruit 

 of 4 free spreading coriaceous cocci, dehiscing on the inner face; endo- 

 cai'p more or less sepai^ating from pericarp. Seeds oblong, testa black, 

 shining ; embryo with large oblong cotyledons and short radicle. DiSTRin. 

 chiefly Polynesian : species about 15. 



1. Melicope Heleeri, Hook. fil. Fl. Br, Ind. I, 492. A glabrous 



454 



