18 Materials for a Flora of the Malayan Teninsula. 



imbricated in bud. Staminal-ttihe cylindrical, dilated at base and apex, 

 10- or 12-striate and -toothed ; anthers 10 or 12, included or partly ex- 

 serted, short, inserted near apex. Disk annular. Ovary 3- G-celled ; cells 

 alternate to the sepals when equal in number to them. Style slender, 

 nearly as long as the tube, stigma capitate ; ovules 2, superposed. Fruit 

 drupaceous. Seeds with thin fleshy albumen ; cotyledons foliaceous. 

 Distrib. About 1 2 species ; Indo-Malayan. 



Petals concave, obtuse; ripe drnpe 1 to 1"5 



in. long ... ... ... 1. M. composita. 



Petals flat, sub-acute ; ripe drnpe "6 to '7 in. 



long ... ... ... ... 2. M. Azedarach. 



I. Melia composita, Willd. Sp. Plant. II. 558. A tall tree ; young 

 branches rather stout, at first covered with pale loose stellate pubescence, 

 ultimately smooth and of a dark colour. Leaves 1 to 2 feet long, bi- or 

 occasionally tri-pinnate, the leaflets on each pinna 6- to 11, petiolulate, 

 from ovate-lanceolate to ovate-rotund, often oblique at the base, acumi- 

 nate, serrulate or entire ; the main nerves 7 or 8 pairs, sub-horizontal, 

 rather distinct on the lower surface; both surfaces sparsely stellate- 

 pubescent when young, ultimately glabrous. Panicles shorter than the 

 leaves, pedunculate, spreading, stellate-hairy, many-flowered. Flowers 

 •3 to "35 in. long. Calyx lohes erect, ovate-lanceolate, stellate-tomentose 

 outside, pubescent or glabrous inside, much shorter than the petals. 

 Petals linear-spathulate, concave, pubescent externally, puberulous 

 internally. Staminal tnhe nearly as long as the petals, ''slightly 

 expanded at the 10-toothed mouth ; the teeth bifid, silky-puberulous 

 on both surfaces ; anthers exserted, pubescent. Stigma 5-toothed. 

 Drupe ovoid, 1 to 15 in. long, smooth, yellowish. Seeds one in each 

 cell, smooth, pointed. W. and A. Prod. I. 117. (excl. syn. M. superha, 

 Roxb.) ; Dalz. and Gibs. Fl. Bomb. 36 ; Thwaites Enum. PI. Ceyl. 

 69 ; Bedd. Fl. Sylvat. t. 12 ; Biaudis For. Flora 69. M. duhia, Hiern 

 (not of Cav.) in Hook. fil. Fl. Br. Ind. I, 545; De Cand. Monog. 

 Phan. I. 453; Trimen Flora Ceylon Vol. 1. 243 (exc. from all the syn. 

 M. superha, Roxb.). M. robusta, Roxb. Hort. Beiig. 33; Fl. Ind. II, 397. 

 M. australasicd, Adr. Juss. in Mem. Mus. XIX, 257. M. asthiopica and 

 M. Boinbolo, Welw. Apontam, Phyto-Geogr. Prov. Angola, 584 and 561. 

 M. argentea, Herb. Ham. ex "Wall. Cat. 1254 C. 



Malacca : Maingay No. 317 (Kew Dist.), and probably in some of 

 the other provinces. Distrib. Brit. India, Ceylon, Australia, Angola. 



This is a widely-spread species, and has received many names. 



From the synonymy above quoted, I have excluded M. superha Roxb., 



which I believe to be a distinct species, with which the tree named 



M. Birmanica by Kurz (Journ. As. Soc. Bengal, Vol. 43, pt. 2, p. 183 ; 



506 



