144 Materials for a Flora of the Malayan Peninsula. 



Malacca ; Perak. Distrib. Sumatra. (Beccari, P. S. No. 646.) 

 21. Xanthophyllum insigne, a. W. Beiin. in Hook. fil. Fl. Br. Ind. 

 I, 211. A glabrous tree with pale biancblets. Leaves drying brown, 

 coriaceous, elliptic, obtuse, the base sligbtly narrowed ; upper surface 

 Bhining ; lower dull, pale, tlie 6-8 pairs of nerves and rather wide reticu- 

 lations prominent ; length 4'5 to 65 in., breadth 3 to 3'6 in. ; petiole stout, 

 •6 in. Racemes 8 to 4 in. long, axillary, sometimes terminal and panicled. 

 Flowers "6 to '75 in. long ; sepals unequal, sub-orbicular, puberulous. 

 Petals spathulate, glabrous except the pubescent claw ; keel adpressed- 

 seinceous, its claw pubescent. Stamens 8, the filaments flat at the base 

 and rising from an annular entire undulate disc which surrounds the 

 ovary. Oi'a?-?/ ovoid, ridged, glabrous, ovules 16; style little curved, 

 glabrous. Fruit globose, 3 in. in diam., minutely rugose, pericarp '5 iu., 

 thick; seeds oblong, 1 iu. long, embedded in pulp. 

 Malacca; Maingay, No. 348, Miller. 



Order XII. PORTULACE^. 



Herbs, rarely undershrubs. Leanes opposite or alternate, entire ; 

 nodes with scarious or hairy appendages, rarely naked. Inflorescence 

 various. Sepals 2, imbricate. Petals 4-5, hypogynoua or ])erigynoufl, 

 free (or united below), fugaceous. Stamens 4-oo , inserted with (rarely 

 upon) the petals, filaments slender; anthers 2-celled. Ovary free, or 

 ■|-inferior, l-celled ; style 2-8-fid, divisions stigmatose ; ovules 2-co , on 

 basal funicles or a central column, amphitropal. Cajisule with trans- 

 verse or 2-3-valvular dehiscence. Seeds 1-yo , compressed; embryo 

 curved round a mealy albumen. Distrib. Cosmopolitan, chiefly Ameri- 

 can ; genera 15, species about 125. 



1. PORTULACA, Linn. 



Diffuse, usually succulent, annual or perennial herbs. Leaves with 

 scaly or hairy nodal appendages. Flowers terminal, surrounded by a 

 ■whorl of leaves, solitary or clustered. Sepals connate below, the free 

 ])art deciduous. Petals 4!-6, perigynous or epipetalous. Ovary ^-inferior; 

 style 3-8-fid ; ovules cc . Capsule crustaceous, dehiscing transversely. 

 Seeds 00, reniform. Distrib. Tropical regions, chiefly American; 

 one or two are cosmopolitan "weeds extending to temperate regions ; 

 species 16. 



1. PoRTULACA OLERACEA, Linn. An annual glabrous, sub-succulent, 

 prostrate herb, 6 to 12 inches long ; sometimes with minute scaiious 

 ii[)pendages at the nodes. Leaves flat, cuneate-oblongf, rounded or 

 truncate at the apex, "25 to 125 in. long ; petiole very short. Flowers in 

 few-floweied terminal heads or iu dichotomous cymes, sessile, surrounded 



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