136 cxxvui. LAURINE^:. (J. D. Hooker.) [Cmnamomum. 



Nees in Otto Gartenzeit. 1833, 91, and Syst. Laurin. 92. Sassafras Par- 

 thenoxylon, Nees Syst. Laurin. 491 ; Wight Ic. t. 1832. Parthenoxylon 

 pofrectum and P. pseudo-sassafras, JSlume Mus. Bot. Lugd. Sat. i. 323 ; 

 Miquel Fl. Ind. Sat. i. 1. 917. Persea pseudo-sassafras, Zolling. in Nat. 

 en GreneesTc. Arch. ii. 635. Laurus Parthenoxylon, Jack in Mai. Misc. i. 

 28 ; Wall. Cat. 2602. L. porrecta, JRoxb. Hort. Calc. 30, and Fl. Ind. ii. 

 308. Phoebe latifolia, Champ, in Kew Journ. Sot. v. 197. 



MALAY PENINSULA ; from Tcnassenm, Griffith, &c. (Kew Distrib. 4248, 4249), 

 to PENANG, Wallich, Maingay (Kew Distrib. 1514 and 1244). DISTEIB. Sumatra, 

 Java, China. 



A large tree, branches stout, black when dry, with very smooth bark. Leaves ex- 

 tremely variable, the largest 8 by 4 in., coriaceous, others thinner almost membranous 

 and glaucous beneath, base acute ; nerves spreading, the lowest pair sometimes 

 longest; petiole slender, 1-1^ in. Panicles 1-3 in. long, with the young shoots en- 

 closed in rounded coriaceous silky caducous scales, black when dry, many-fid. ; 

 flowers -^ in. diam., pedicelled. Perianth-lobes broadly oblong, obtuse, wholly de- 

 ciduous. Stamens very short, hairy. Ovary glabrous. Stigma discoid. . Fruiting 

 perianth -^ in. long, funnel-shaped, suddenly expanding into the fruit-bearing 

 di^k. Fruit succulent. I find no specimen of C. malaccense, Meissn., said to be 

 described from specimens in Herb. Hook. ; but I cannot doubt its being C. Par- 

 thenoxylon. 



DOUBTUL AND EXCLUDED SPECIES. 



C. BUEMANNI, Blume (Laurus dulcis, Eoxb. Sort. Beng. 30, and Fl Ind. ii. 303; 

 Wall. Cat. 2581), is a Malayan Island species, not hitherto found in India. Meissner 

 quotes Wight's Icones, t. 138, copied from a drawing of Roxburgh under the name 

 of dulce, for this, but it differs in the very strong nerves produced to the very tips of 

 tLe leaves. 



C. CATHIA, Don Prodr. 67, is probably Phoebe paniculata. 



C. HEYNEANUM, Nees Syst. Laur. 77 (Laurus Heyneana, Wall. Cat. 2576), is 

 referred to var. 7. subvenosum of C. iners, Rein w., by Meissner (in DC. Prodr. xv. 1. 

 20). It is not very like any species described above ; it is a very slender plant, the 

 subopposite leaves are very long and narrow, 5-7 by f-1 in., with nerves obscure 

 above ; the fruiting peduncles are very long and slender ; the pedicels in., suddenly 

 dilating into the almost rotate fruiting-perianth J in. diam. with rounded spreading 

 lobes, and the fruit "(apparently dry) is oblong fin. long. It is from Heyne's Her- 

 barium without habitat. 



LAUETJS MALABATHKICA, Soland. mss. in Roxb. Fl. Ind. ii. 297. Roxburgh quotes 

 Rheede's Katou-Karua (Hort. Mai. \. t. 53) for this ; and Hamilton (in Trans. 

 Linn. Soc. xiii. 550) has a long article upon it and upon Rheede's Caraa (Hort. 

 Mai. i. t. 57), which I have referred to C. macro car pum. It appears to me to be im- 

 possible to identify absolutely the plants which such figures are supposed to represent. 



LAUETJS EIGIDA, Wall. Cat. 2570, from Silhet, with rigid elliptic very coriaceous 

 leaves 3-5 in. long, is inderminable. 



C. TOMENTOSUJT, Don Prodr. 67, is probably Phoebe paniculata. 



LAUEUS ? ? BMILACIFOLIA, Wall. Cat. 2572, from Penang, is Greivia laurifolia, 

 with leaves 10 in. long. 



8. IVXACHIX.US,* Nees. 



^ Evergreen trees. Leaves alternate, penninerved. Flowers 2-sexual, ip. 

 axillary panicles. Perianth-tube short or ; segments 6, subequal or outer 

 rather smaller, all persistent (except M. edulis) and spreading or reflexed in 



* Further information on this genus will appear at the end of the volume, addi- 

 tional materials being expected from Calcutta. 



