93 



H.M.S « Penguin ' in 1894-5 ; but these are not localized. 

 Recently Mr. C. M. Woodford, Government Resident, British 

 Solomon Islands, sent specimens accompanied by the folloAving 

 note : — " I now send some dried specimens and some seeds of a 

 shrub from Ysabel Island for identication. It is the source of the 

 native indigo dye, and so far as I know is peculiar to Ysabel. It 

 is used for colouring the native bark cloth. The leaves are 

 sprinkled with salt water and slightly wilted in the sun. They 

 are then chewed by the women and the result is a dull blue stain 

 in the mouth which has a very unpleasant appearance. To stain 

 the cloth the women spit or smear the saliva upon it, altogether a 

 very primitive and objectionable process." 



So far as we are aware this plant has not been found elsewhere, 

 except in Australia, though it may be expected to occur in New 

 Guinea. It is not put to any use in Australia. 





W. B. H. 



i 



Aleurites trisperma, Blanco.— A. revision of the synonymy of the 

 species of Aleurites is given in the Kew Bulletin for 1906, pp. 119- 

 121. At that time Kew possessed only an imperfect flowering 

 specimen of A. trisperma, and some seeds, without the testa, 

 which were supposed to belong to this species. Mr. Elmer D. 

 Merrill, Botanist of the Bureau of Agriculture and Forestry, 

 Manila, has recently presented specimens of foliage and fruit, 

 collected by himself, which enable us to give the distinguishing 

 characters of the fruit of this species. 



A. trisperma, Blanco, differs from both A. cordafa, Steud., and 

 A. Fordii, Hemsl. {Hook. Ic. PL, t. 2801 and 2802), in all the 

 leaves being entire, and the flowers are smaller, the fruit larger 

 with a thicker pericarp, and the very thin, distinctly nerved 

 cotyledons are more decidedly cordate at the base. Mueller 

 describes (DC. Prodr., vol. xv., 2, p. 724) the leaves of A. trisperma 

 as having a blade 10 to 12 cm. long with a somewhat longer 

 petiole, but the largest leaves of the Kew specimens measure 25 

 by 20 cm. with a petiole 18 cm. long. 



The synonymy of this specie? requires some explanation. 

 Blanco {Flora de Filipinos, ed. 1, 1837, p. 755) described it under 

 the name here adopted. In the second edition of the same work 

 (1845) the description is repeated, p. 519, under the name A. 

 saponaria, without any reference to the first name, and it is the 

 same in the third, folio, edition, 1879, vol. iii. p. 19. The flowers 

 are not figured in the plate 296 of the same work ; but in the 

 ."Noyissima Appendix" 1880, p. 191, A. saponaria i£ reduced to 

 A. trisperma. The native names cited by Blanco are : Balocanad, 

 Baguilumban, Calumban, and Balucanag. Mr. Merrill informs us 

 that he has not met with this tree in an undoubtedly wild state in 

 the Philippines. The oil, which is regarded as poisonous, is 



drying properties. 



Wood-oil CKJh. 190C, p. 117) 



m * 





l W. B; H. 



