99 



CENTKOLEPIDACEiE. 



CENTROLEPIS NOVO-GUINEENSIS Gibbs, sp. nov. 



Planta perennis, densissiine csespitosa, multifoliata. Folia basi vaginata, vagina 

 hyalina, margine longe pilosa, lamina lineare, canaliculata, leviterscabriuscula, obtusa. 

 Pedunculus gracilis, scabriusculus ; gliunis 2, inaBqualibus. calyptratis, margine 

 hyalinis, unitioris. Flares bractea unica hyalina stipati. Stamen 1. Ovarium 

 2-loculare, loculis 2, superpositis. Styli 2. 



Hah. Arfak Mts., Angi lakes. Abundant in marsh by ? lake where 

 open on sand, 7000'. FJ., Fr. Dec. 5566. Koebre ridge, abundant on 

 open burnt summit, where damp, 9000'. Fl., Fr. 5646. 



Plants 2'4 cm. high, with branched stems, all densely matted with white 

 hairs at the base. Leaves 8 mm. long, with vagina 3 mm. long and 1 mm. 

 broad, the lamina 4 mm. by 5 mm. Peduncle 1*5-1'8 cm. in length, much 

 longer exported in 5646, each bearing one spikelet, 4 mm. long. Glumes 2, 

 the largest 3'5 mm. long, and the smaller 3 mm. Hyaline bract 4 mm. long, 

 o>ate acute. Stamen with versatile anther 1 mm. in length; filament 

 3'5 mm. long. Ovary 1*5 mm. long. Styles 3 mm. 



Very near C. pliilippinensis Merr., but is a smaller plant with shorter, 

 radially arranged, spreading leaves, hairy at the base, with, as far as seen, 

 one flower in each glume. 



This interesting record affords further striking proof of the wider 

 distribution of a so-called Australian genus. One species alone was previously 

 known from Asia, viz. C. cambodiana Hance, till Merrill in 1906 found 

 C. pliilippinensis on Mt. Halcon at 2400 in. In 1910 1 C. kinabaluensis was 

 found by me in N. Borneo, on Mt. Kinabalu at 13,000', which now, wich 

 the above, gives 4 well-defined Asiatic species, indeed 5, if an undescribcd 

 plant in the Kew Herbarium should belong to this genus ; and no doubt 

 further exploration of the magnificent mountain ranges of New Guinea with 

 their unlimited possibilities will yield many more. 



1 CKNTBOLEPIS KINABALUENSIS Gibbs, = C". philijipinemis W. B. Turrell, ex Gilbs 

 in Journ. Linn. Soc., Bot. xlii. (1914) 172 (non Merr.). 



Planta perennis, 2-3 cm. alta, caespitosa. Folia disticha, imbricata, + 1'2 cm. longa, vagina 

 6 mm. longa, 2 mm. lata, hyalina, glabra, lamina 8 mm. longa, 5 mm. lata, obtusa, sctosa. 

 Pedunculiis 1'2 cm. longus; glumis 2, inaequalibus, inferne latis concavisque, superne angustatis, 

 apice obtusis, dorso carinatis, 4*5 mm. long. Flares 6-8, in quaque gloma 34, flos qnisque 

 bractea hyalina, 3'5 mm. longa. Filamentum 3 mm. longum, anthera 1'2 mm. longa. Ovarium 

 1'5 mm. longum, stylis 2 mm. 



Hab. Kinabalu, granite core, summit, cracks in granite, forming mats. Fl.,Fr. Feb. 4207. 



A note of Turrell'* on the herbarium sheet at Kew states, " The number of flowers in a 

 ppikelet varies in this plant. I have found 4, 6 or 8 flowers in one spikelet. The Philippine 

 type is described as having 4 flowers and all the flowers of Merrill 6160 that I have 

 dissected have this number in each spikelet." The plant also differs in the glabrous 

 distichous leaves and the shape of the glumes, which have bluut apices. 



