176 cxxviu. LAURINE^E. (J. D. Hooker.) [Litscea. 



NILGHIEI Mxs. ; at Sispara, Wight, Gardner. 



Apparently a robust shrub, or tree, with erect leaves greenish above and hardly 

 glaucous beneath, and branches as thick as a goose-quill. The very young racemes 

 are axillary, erect, 1 in. long, with a stout rachis and very shortly stoutly pedicelled 

 umbel, much too young for analysis. Fruiting racemes 1-2 in. long, rachis stout, 

 pedicels of umbels short and thick ; pedicel and perianth-tube together forming a 

 broadly obconic or turbinate cup -f in. diam. with an entire or lobed thin margin. 

 Meissner describes this as having opposite or subopposite leaves, but I find them 

 opposite only on very young shoots. Possibly an extreme form of L. Wightiana. 



56. Ii. Stocksii, HooJc.f. ; glabrous except the silky-tomentose inflo- 

 rescence, leaves 4-6 in. alternate penninerved coriaceous oblong-lanceolate 

 or oblanceolate rarely obovoid acute or acuminate, glaucous and very finely 

 but distinctly reticulate and sometimes puberulous beneath with 10-16 pairs 

 of strong nerves, f em. umbels 6-8-fld. in stout suberect racemes 1-3 in. long, 

 fruit ellipsoid seated on the entire or irregularly lobed turbinate thickly 

 pedicelled perianth -tube. Tetranthera lancesefolia, Graft. Cat. Bomb. PI. 

 174. ? T. glauca, 8. P leevigata, Nees Syst. Laur. 677; Meissn. I. c. 185. 

 0. myristicaefolia, var. acutata, Meissn. I. c. 209 (the Canar a plant only}. 



The CONCAN and CANABA ; on the Ghats and Mahableshwar Hills, Gibson, 

 Stocks, Eitchie, &c. 



Branches stout. Leaves 1-2 in. broad, often of a purplish or brown glaucous hue 

 beneath, greenish above with impressed nerves ; petiole J-| in. Female umbels shortly 

 pedicelled, flowering nearly ^ in. diam. ; bracts 4, and flowers silvery silky. Pe- 

 rianth-tube oblong-turbinate in flower; stamens (of female) reduced to the 2 glands 

 and a ligule. Fruiting umbels sometimes solitary or corymbose : fruit (unripe) in. 

 long ; perianth-tube nearly in. diam. It is with great hesitation that I advance 

 this as distinct from L. Wightiana, and on the other hand I am not quite satisfied 

 whether or no L. StocJcsii may not include two species, or that the synonymy of the 

 three following forms is absolutely correct. Meissner evidently had the same difficulty 

 as I have experienced in respect of these Litsaas. 



1. StocJcsii proper ; leaves very minutely puberulous beneath. Along with ellip- 

 soid-fruiting specimens of this from near Parwar Ghat, Ritchie sends detached fruits 

 which are transversely oblong, 1 in. diam. Tetranthera oblouga, var. Stocksii, Heissn. 

 in DC. Prodr. xv. 1. 205. 



2. Var. acutata ; leaves quite glabrous and more glaucous beneath, but reticu- 

 lated as in Stocksii proper. Cylicodaphne myristicaefolia, var. acutata, Meissn. I. c. 

 209, in part. Tetranthera lanceafolia, Eoxb. ? ; Grah. Cat. Bomb. PI. 171. 



3. Var. glabrescens ; leaves obovate-oblong rarely lanceolate very white and glau- 

 cous beneath with no or very obscure traces of reticulation. Cylicodaphne Wightiana, 

 var. glabrescens, Meissn. 1. c. 201 (the plant of Stocks), and var. acutata, Meissn. I. c. 

 515. Canara, Stocks. Nilghiri Hills, at Villa Cadoo, Wight. 



f-j" leaves more or less pubescent beneath (sometimes glabrous in L. 

 Gardneri). 



57. I*. Gardner!, Thwaites Enum. 255 (Tetranthera); nearly glabrous, 

 branches robust, leaves 4-6 in. alternate penninerved thickly coriaceous 

 oblong or broadly elliptic obtuse glabrous or hoary beneath with 8-10"pair 

 of very strong nerves and transverse nervules reticulations very obscure, 

 racemes short tomentose with stout rachis and pedicels, bracts silky, fruit 

 oblong seated on a broad turbinate stoutly pedicelled perianth- tube. Cylico- 

 daphne zeylanica & rigida, Meissn. in DC. Prodr. xv. 1. 201. 



CEYLON ; Central Province, alt. 4^6000 ft., Thwaites. 



A tree, 40-50 ft. ; branches as stout as a goose-quill. Leaves l-4 in. broad, 

 brown when dry above with impressed nerves, paler beneath but not glaucous ; base 

 acute ; petiole - in., stout. Racemes 1-3 in. long, strict; pedicels |-^ in.; umbels 



