54 



of the Perak State Museum for ovor twenty years, and botanical 

 specimens of it wei-e collected in the year 1888. Mr. E. M. Holmes, 

 Curator of the Museum of the Pharmaceutical Society, kindly 

 examined and identified them as Miiragyne speciosa of Korthals. 

 This was subsequently confirmed by the Botanists of the Royal 

 Botanical Gardens, Calcutta, to whom I also sent them. The follow- 

 int? description of the tree appears in Sir George King's " Materials 

 f(n' a Flora of tlie Malayan Peninsula: " 



"2. MiTRAGYNE SPECIOSA, Korth., Obs. de Nauclces Indices, p. 19 

 (name only). — Young branches usually dark-coloured, compressed. 

 Leaves meml^ranous, ol>long-obovat« to oblong, shortly and abruptly 

 acuminate or sub-acut«, the base broad and rounded or rarely slightly 

 and suddenly contracted ; l>oth siirfaces glabrous, the lower minutely 

 reticidate and sometimes pulierulous on the 12 to 15 pairs of slightly 

 curved ascending nerves : length 4 to 5.5 inches ; breadth 2 to 3.5 

 inches ; petiole thin, .8 to 1.2 inches long ; stipules lanceolate, sparsely 

 pul)escent. Corolla .3 inch long ; tube of calyx wide, ridged, its 

 mouth about .075 inch across. Anthers sagittate at the base. Stigma 

 mitriform. 



" Haviland, in Journ. Linn. Soc, XXXIII., 69 ; Stephegyne 82)eciom, 

 Korth., Verb. -Nat. Gesch. Bot., p. 160; S, parvifoUa, K. Schum, 

 fl. Kaiser- Wilh. Land., p. 127 ; Nouclea speciosa, Mig., Fl. Ind. 

 Bat., II.. 140. 



"Pahang: Ridley, 2190. Perak: Wray, 1896, 4280 ; Scortechini, 

 616; King's Collector, 1770, 10029, 10459. Distrib.. Sumatra; 

 Forbes, Borneo ; Motley, 1169 ; Korthals. Philippines ; Cuming, 

 Motley ; Vidal, New Guinea." 



It wiU be noticed that the geographical range of the species is very 

 wide: embr.K'ing the whole Malayan Archipelago and Peninsula. 



A reference to the supposed properties of the plant appears in the 

 "Kew Bulletin," No. 5 of 1937, p. 199, where it is stated: "A com- 

 munication from Mr. D. Hooper drawing attention to an article 

 bv Mr. H. N. Ridlev in ' Journal of the Asiatic Societv ' for Julv, 1897, 

 wherein the writer refers to the leaves of Miiragyne speciosa, Korth., 

 as being employed in Perak as a remedy for the opium habit." It 

 appears, however, that in the July number for that year there is only 

 one article by Mr. Ridley, and that is " Malay Plant Names," and at 

 p. 58 occurs the only mention f>f the plant, which is as follows : 



"'Biak' (Perak): Miteagyne speciosa, Korth. (Rubiaceae). — 

 Leaves used as a sub.stitute for opium in Perak, according to 

 Mr. Wray." 



This is quite another matter ; " remedy " and " substitute " being 

 words of such widely diverse meaning. It only shows, once again, 

 h<^»w very necessary it is to k>ok up references. 



