MacliilusJ] cxxviii. LAURINE^E. (J. D. Hooker.) 141 



xv. 1. 40 ; Wight Ic. 1. 1824 ; Beddome For. Fl. t. 264 ; Thwaites Enum. 254 ; 

 Dalz. $ Gibs. Bomb. FL 221. M. glaucescens, Wight Ic. 1. 1825 (excl. syn.} ; 

 Dalz. $" Gibs. L c. Cryptocarya floribunda, Miquel PL HohenacJc. n. 1458 

 (not ofNees). Laurus macrantha, Wall. Cat. 2587. 



DECCAN PENINSULA.; on the Ghats from the Concan southwards, ascending to 

 7000 ft. CEYLON, alt. 1500-4000 ft.' 



A large tree ; branches brown when dry. Leaves 3-9 by 1^-3^ in., finely reti- 

 culate on both surfaces; nerves 8-12 pair, slender, sometimes indistinct; petiole 

 slender, 1-1J in. Panicles grouped in a subterminal corymb as in M. villosa, some- 

 times 10 in. long and with very long peduncle and spreading branches; at others 

 short and subsessile, peduncle and branches from hoary-pubescent to glabrate; 

 flowers very variable in size, *- in. diam. Perianth tomentose without and within ; 

 lobes oblong or linear-oblong. Anthers pubescent. " Fruit black, |-| in. diam. I 

 can find no characters whereby to distinguish Wight's glaucescens from macrantha. 

 Dalzell and Gibson describe the fruit of the former as about the size of a small goose- 

 berry, and of the latter as of a large currant. The length of the petiole at once dis- 

 tinguishes it from M. villosa, as does the pubescence of the panicle. 



9. PHCEBE, Nees. 



Evergreen trees or shrubs. Leaves alternate or scattered, penninerved . 

 Flowers small, 2-sexual or polygamous, in axillary and subterminal panicles. 

 Perianth-tube short; segments 6, subequal, erect and enlarging and clasping 

 the base of the fruit. Perfect stamens 9 ; filaments of 1st and 2nd series 

 eglandular with introrse 4-celled anthers, of 3rd series 2-glandular with 

 extrorse 4-celled anthers ; staminodes of 4th series cordate or sagittate. Fruit 

 ellipsoid or oblong, clasped at the base by the hardened perianth-segments. 

 Species about 26, Indian and Malayan. 



Phceibe, which in the " Genera Plantarum " is reduced to Persea, must, I think, be 

 restored ; the fruiting perianth is very characteristic and habit uniform. 



* Perianth quite glabrous. 



1. P. lanceolata, Nees Syst. Laurin. 109; quite glabrous, leaves 

 elliptic-lanceolate finely or caudate-acuminate, perianth glabrous, segments 

 equal, fruit ^ in. Meissn. in DC. Prodr. xv. 1. 34 (excl. var. y.) ; Wight Ic. 

 t. 1821 ; Brandis For. Flor. 377 ; Kurz For. Fl. ii. 290 ; Gamble Man. 

 Ind. Timb. 308 ; ? Beddome For. Man. 184. Ocotea lanceolata, Nees in 

 Wall. PL As. Rar. ii. 71. Laurus lanceolata, Wall. Cat. 2599. L. lanceo- 

 laria, Roxb. Fl. Ind. ii. 309. L. salicifolia and L. P camphorata, Herb. 

 Hamilt. 



SUBTROPICAL HIMALAYA, from Simla eastwards, ascending to 6000 ft. KHASIA 

 MTS., common. BURMA, Griffith. MARTABAN and TENASSERIM, Kurz. SOUTH 

 DECCAN, Nilghiri Hills and southward, alt. 3000 ft., Beddome. 



An evergreen tree ; branches slender, bark usually yellowish white. Leaves 510 

 by 1-2J in., thinly coriaceous, pale when dry above and pale browu beneath, base 

 very narrow ; ntrves 6-10 pair ; petiole slender, ^-| in. Panicles axillary, very 

 variable, shorter or longer than the leaves, peduncle sometimes strict and l-2.in., 

 at others curved and 4-6 in., branches few ; flowers -fa-\ in., pale yellow or white. 

 Perianth cup-shaped ; segments broad, obtuse, pubescent within, hardening and 

 clasping the fruit, which is narrowly ellipsoid, black. Nees describes the leaves as 

 very finely pubescent beneath. I have seen no Deccan specimens. Very near P. de- 

 clinata, Nees, of the mountains of Java. Var. y. ligustrina, Meissn., is P. declinata, 

 Nees. 



2. P. angrustifolia, Meissn. in DC. Prodr. xv. 1. 34; quite glabrous 



