150 Flora of the Malayan Peninsula. 



dehiscing longitudinally; the connective with long linear apical process. 

 Capsule obconic, smooth, '2 in. long, crowned by the calyx, 2-celled, 2- 

 seeded. Seeds minute, dark brown. 



Perak : ScortecMni 454, 500 ; Ridley 2920 ; Wray 463, 1083, 2910, 

 2963, 3936 ; King's Collector 2789, 2892, 7520. Selangor : Bidley 7409. 



This species is closely allied to A. Elatostemma. It has, however, a shorter stem 

 and larger fewer leaves. 



12. Argostemma Elatostemma, Hook. fil. Fl. Br. Ind. III. 45. 

 Stem thinner than a goose-quill, 4 to 12 in. long, decumbent and rooting 

 at the lower nodes, deciduously scurfy-hairy, sometimes becoming sub- 

 glabrous. Leaves thickly membranous, very unequal ; the longer one of 

 the pair somewhat oblique, oblong-lanceolate ; the apex broad or sub- 

 acute, sometimes shortly apiculate, more or less narrowed from a little 

 above the middle to the often somewhat unequally-sided or obliquely- 

 cordate base, the edges not ciliate ; upper surface glabrous or nearly so, 

 the slightly depressed midrib and main-nerves sometimes puberulous ; 

 the lower surface minutely scaly, rusty adpressed-pubescent on the 

 prominent midrib, reticulations, and 10 to 12 pairs (only 7 or 8 in var.) 

 of slightly curved spreading main-nerves; length 1'25 to 2*25 in.; 

 (shorter in var.) ; breadth "75 to 1 in. ; petioles unequal, *15 to '2 in long, 

 scurfy-pubescent ; the smaller leaf ovate-lanceolate (broadly ovate in 

 var.) sessile, 'lb to '2 in. long, with 2 to 4 pairs of nerves. Stipules 

 about the same in size and shape as the smaller leaves. Corymhs termin- 

 al, solitary, pedunculate, few-fiowered, usually shorter than the leaves ; 

 the peduncles slender, minutely pubescent or sub-glabrous ; bracteoles 

 at the forks, minute. Flowers "4 in. long, on slender sometimes puberu- 

 lous pedicels about as long as themselves. Calyx '1 in. long, pubescent, 

 campanulate, with 5 triangular, spreading, acute lobes. Corolla white, 

 glabrous, with 5 long lanceolate much I'eflexed lobes. Anthers linear- 

 lanceolate, cohering by the narrow wings and long terminal appendage 

 of the connective, erect, dehiscing by long vertical slits. Style long, 

 slender, cylindric : stigma small, slightly exserted beyond the narrow 

 staminal cone. Capsule pyriform, glabrous, crowned by the calyx-teeth, 

 •2 in. long. 



Penang : Hullett 195 ; Curtis 962, 2250 ; King's Collector 1605, 1752. 

 Singapore: Lohb 296. Malacca: Griffith {K. It.) 287 Q. Perak: Scorte- 

 cMni; Wray 3334; King's Collector 2131. 



VAR. obovata. King. Leaves obovate, minutely apiculate, the base 

 obliquely cordate : upper surface with a few scattered, short, thick hairs, 

 length '9 to 1"4 in.; breadth *5 to "75 in. Corymb 2- to 4-flowered, its 

 peduncle pubescent, with a whorl of minute bracts near its apex. 



Perak: King's Collector 10815. 



40 



