

Plate 1706. 



SCOKTECHINIA KINGII, Hook. f. 

 Euphorbiace^;. Tribe Phyllantheje ? 



Scortechinia, Hook.f. {gen. nov.). Mores minuti, dioici, in cymas 

 subterminales disposifci, breviter pedicellati, apetali. Fl. <? . Sepala 

 4-5, rotundata, imbricata. Stamina 4-5, filamentis brevibus liberis ; 

 antherae latiuscula?, intus dehiseentes. Disci glandule 4-5, stamini- 

 bus alternas, pubescentes. Pistillodium breve, 3-lobum, pilosum. 

 Fl. $ . Sepala maris. Ovarium (3-4-loculare ?) ; stigmata 4, 

 minuta sessilia ; ovula 2 ? ab apice loculi pendula. Capsula cano- 

 pubescens, oblongo-ovoidea, tenuiter Crustacea, 3-4-valvis, leviter 

 3-4-costata, 1-sperma, stigmatibus 3-4 minutis coronata. Semen ab 

 apice column© (e deciduis septorum efformatae ?) pendulum, elliptieo- 

 oblongum, compressum, testa tenuiter Crustacea, album in e parco 

 carnoso ; cotyledones amygdalinas, radicnla minuta supera. — Arbores 

 fere glabrce. Folia alterna, petiolata, coriacea, integra v. subserrata, 

 penninervia ; petiolo apice incrassato. Stipule non visce. 



S. Kingii, Hook. / ; foliis elliptico- • v. cuneato-obovatis obtusis 

 v. cuspidatis glanduloso-crenatis. 



Hab. Malay Peninsula and Islands; Perak, King 9 8 Collector ; 

 Malacca, Griffith; Borneo {Serb. Beccari, No. 11(54). 



A very singular genus, quite unlike any other in the Order, but 

 curiously resembling the Malaccan Olacineous genus Ctenolophon, 

 Oliv. (in Trans, Linn. Soc. xxviii. 51G, t. 43, and Fl Brit. hul. i. 577) in 

 the form, indumentum and dehiscence of the capsule, and in the solitary 

 pendulous seed and its column. I am very uncertain as to its position 

 m the Order, which cannot be ascertained without knowing the 

 structure of the female flowers, of which I have seen no speci- 

 mens, though there are plenty of males and fruit. The fruit is 

 always one-celled, and splits from apex to base into elliptic-lanceolate 

 valves; it contains a single seed pendulous from a compressed column 

 with ragged edges, which ascends from the base to the summit of the 

 capsule, and is more or less adherent to the sides of the latter. The 

 column bears at its apex one pendulous seed, together with one ovule 

 crowned with an obturator. The position of the ovule is at the back 

 of the top of the seed. The stigmas and valves of the fruit appear to 

 indicate a normally 4-carpellary and 4-ceIled ovary, of which 3 cells 

 with their septa and ovules were undeveloped or disappeared during the 

 development of the fruit. From the position of the ovule in the ripe 



