208 



WILSON EXPEDITION TO CHINA 



In working up our material of Meliosma we have had an opportunity of 

 examining in the Gray Herbarium Oldham's Nos. 85, 86, on which Maximowicz 

 founded his M. rhoifolia and which Hooker f., in Fl. Brit. Ind. II. 6 (1876) sug- 

 gests is the same as M. pinnata Maximowicz (Millingtonia pinnata Roxburgh). 

 This examination has satisfied us that these species are without doubt quite distinct. 

 In M. rhoifolia Maximowicz the leaflets are shining green above, the medium sized 

 panicles are nearly as broad as long (25 cm. long, 20 cm. broad) with dark colored 

 compressed, somewhat angular, glabrous primary branches; the ovary is villose. 

 In M. pinnata Maximowicz the leaves are dull green above; the panicles are very 

 large, much longer than broad (from 35 to 45 cm. long and from 25 to 30 cm. broad), 

 the primary branches of the panicle are nearly round, gray, woody and sparsely 

 pubescent; the ovary is glabrous. 



The specimens look very different and we consider M. rhoifolia Maximowicz 

 to be much more closely related to M. Oldhamii Miquel than it is to M. pinnata 

 Maximowicz. 



