326 



THE SPECIES OF MYEISTICA 



with irregular scattered tufts of flocculent wool; upper shining, lower sub-glaucous; 

 lateral nerves 20 to 30 pairs, prominent below, spreading; length 1 to 2 feet, breadth 

 2-5 to 7 in. ; petiole stout, "5 in. long. Male flowers in clusters of 6 to 9 from tubercles 

 in the axils of fallen leaves, '35 in. in diam.; pedicels '75 to 125 in., the bracteole above 

 the middle, adpressed. Perianth obovoid. the teeth 3, broadly triangular, fleshy, glabrous 

 inside and longitudinally rugose towards the base. Stalk of staminal disc short, glabrous, 

 striate, thickened upwards so as to pass gradually into the triangular, sub-concave, 

 glabrous disc. Anthers about 20, sessile, spreading, narrowly ovate. Female 

 like the males, but with shorter pedicels and broader teeth ; ovary densely woolly ; 

 stigma sub-sessile, concave, with many irregular narrow lobes. Fruit ellipsoid, 2 to 3 



in. 



Ion" 1 covered with a coating one-fourth of an inch thick of dense, silky, ful 



wool ; pericarp crustaceous, '25 in. thick ; arillus thin, uniform, scarlet, completely 



enveloping the cylindric- ovoid seed. Hook. fil. 6f Thorns. FL Ind. v. 156; Hook 

 fil. FL Br. Ind. 109; Miq. FL Ind. Bat. i. pt. 2, p. 69; A. DC. in Prod. xiv. 204. 



Penang, Perak, Malacca and Singapore; not uncommon. 



Plate 1H3. Myristica Hookeriana, Wall. 1, Leaf-twig; 2, cluster of male flowers; 

 3 ripe fruit; 4, transverse section of same; 5, male flowers — of natural size ; 6, staminal 

 disc and anthers seen from above— enlarged ; 7, fascicle of female flowers; 8, ovary; 

 9, the same dissected — of natural size ; 10, stigma — enlarged. 



62. Myristica Curtisii, n. sp. King. A tree ; all parts glabrous, except the 



minutely puberulous leaf- buds and male flowers; young branches slender, rather dark, 

 black. Leaves thinly coriaceous, narrowly elliptic-oblong or elliptic-lanceolate to elliptic- 

 obovate, the apex acute or sub-acute, the base acute; when dry the edge slightly 

 recurved; upper surface pale-greenish when dry, shining; lower dull, whitish, sub- 

 glaucous; main nerves 9 to 16 pairs, faint, spreading, evanescent towards the margin; 

 length 3 to 3*5 in., breadth 1 to 16 in.; petiole -4 in. Male flowers in umbels of 3 to 

 10, from short, woody, axillary tubercles; pedicels -35 to '4 in. long; bracteole near 

 the middle of the pedicel very small, minutely puberulous, as is the outside of the 



buds depressed-obovoid, '15 in. in diam. ; teeth of perianth fleshy, concave 

 broadlv triangular. Staminal disc large, very concave, in some stages with a convexity ii 

 the middle, obtusely 3-cornered, striate beneath, suddenly contracted into the short stalk 

 edo-e of disc quite entire, bearing on its lower surface 40 to 45 small ovate anthers 



per 



t 



Female flowers in few-flowered umbels; perianth not seen; ovary sessile, ovoid, conical, 



tomentose; the stigma with 6 radiating, acute teeth. Fruit solitary or in pairs, elliptic- 

 ovate sub-gibbous, 1*35 in. long, *75 in. in diam., keeled at the suture, rusty-puberulous, 

 pedicel *4 in. long; arillus completely covering the seed, thin, entire or slightly 



lobulate at the apex. 



Penang; near the Waterfall, Curtis No. 1024, and at Penara Bukit (1,000 feet) 1301. 



Perak* near the Hermitage (elevation 3,000 feet), Curtis No. 1320; Scortechini No. 292; 

 Thaiping, Wray No. 2112. Malacca, Maingay (Kew Distrib. No. 1301). 



Of this species Sir J. D. Hooker had seen only Maingay's fruiting specimen 

 (No. 1301) when he elaborated the genus Myristica for the Flora of Brit. India. But, 

 in a note to p. 113 of the 5th volume of that work, he gave a partial description of it, 

 and indicated it as a new species. Maingay in a MSS. note, of which Sir Joseph 

 Hooker has most kindly sent me a copy, describes the ripe fruit as follows: — "Fruit 



