292 



THE SPECIES OF MYEISTICA 



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surface glabrous, shining, the midrib bold ; lower covered by a dense layer of minute 

 stellate, rusty, deciduous tomentum ; ultimately glabrous, pale and sub-glaucous; main 



nerves 20 to 26 pairs, spreading and interarching by the curving tips, prominent on the 

 lower, impressed on the upper surface ; midrib very stout on both surfaces ; length 12 to 

 24 in., breadth 3*5 to 6 in.; petiole 1 in., stout, channelled. Male flowers in dense 8- to 

 15-flowered clusters from very short, woody, axillary tubercles; buds ovoid, their bases 

 on one side embraced by the semi-orbicular, sericeous bracteole ; pedicels *1 in. long, or 

 absent; perianth -2 in. long, ovoid-globose, with 3 or 4 short sharp teeth, sericeous- 

 tomentose externally, glabrous internally. Androecium much shorter than the perianth, 

 with a short hairy stalk, ovate-cyiindric, bluntly apiculate ; anthers about 15, narrow, 

 slightly unequal in length. Female flower unknown. Fruit solitary or in pairs, axillary, 

 pedicelled, rufous-puberulous, ovate, 3 to 4 in. long and about 2 in. in diara. ; pedicel 

 very stout, *5 to *6 in. long ; pericarp thick, fleshy ; arillus narrowly laciniate from 

 nearly the base, its segments much conduplicate at the apex of the cylindric-elliptic 

 vertically grooved seed; seed 2 in. long and 1 in. in diam., striate. Hook. fil. FL Br. 



Ind. v. 104. 



South Travancore : in moist forests at the base of the hills. Colonel R. H. Beddome. 



This species much resembles M. laurifolia, Hook. fil. & Thorns., in many respects. 

 But it has larger leaves, densely stellate-tomentose beneath ; when young its fruit is 

 larger and more oblong, and its statninal column has a shorter and sericeous stalk. It 

 has, up to the present time, been seen alive by no botanist except Colonel R. H. Beddome, 

 who describes it as one of the finest trees in Southern India, having magnificently 

 butressed stems with many serial roots. Colonel Beddome has fonnd it only in South 

 Travancore, where it is most abundant at Mimootee, near Colatoorpalay. 



Plate 119. Myristica magnifica, Bedd. 1, Leaf -twig; 2, branch with part of leaf and 



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clusters of male flowers; 3, fruit opened to show seed with its arillus; 4, arillus; 5, seed 



of natural she ; 6, male perianth with bracteole ; 7, section of male flower ; 8, andrcecium 



enlarged (Nos. 3 & 8 are copied from Colonel Beddome's Fl. Sylv. 268). 



10. My 



jistica cinnamonea, n. sp. King. A tree 60 to 80 feet high ; young branches 

 thin, rather dark, sparingly rufous-puberulous at first, finally glabrous. Leaves thinly 



coriaceous, oblong-lanceolate, tapering about equally to either end ; upper surface 

 shining, pale brownish-green when dry; lower uniformly covered with a close layer of 

 cinnamoneous, minute, stellate, adpressed hairs; main nerves 14 to 20 pairs, faint on both 

 surfaces, sub-ascending; the midrib stout; length 4*5 to 7 f 5 in., breadth 1*5 to 2*25 

 in. ; petiole *5 to *75 in., scurfy-pubescent. Male flowers '25 in. long, in umbellate 8- to 

 14-flowered axillary cymes about as long as the petioles; pedicels *15 to 2 in. long; 



bracteole ovate-acute, rufous-tomentose, obliquely embracing one side of the base of 

 the flower. Perianth elongate-ovoid, tubular, minutely scurf y-tomentose outside, glabrous 

 within, the teeth rather deep, sub-acute; andrcecium cylindric, nearly as long as the 

 perianth, slightly apiculate; anthers about 10, linear, sinuate; stalk nearly as long as 



the column, scurfy rufous-tomentose. Female floiver unknown. Fruit ellipsoid, tap 



slightly to the base, the apex sub-obtuse, 3 to 3-5 in. long and 1*65 in. in diam., slightly 

 ridged along one side, minutely rufous-tomentose; pericarp *35 to *5 in. thick, fleshy; 

 peduncle stout, *25 to 5 in. long; arillus extending to the apex of the seed, thin, 

 deeply laciniate at the sides; seed cylindric-ellipsoid, 2 in. long, the testa shining 

 and thin. 



