110 ANNALS OF THE ROYAL BOTANIC GARDEN, CALCUTTA. 
ovate-lanceolate, acute or sub-acute, the base rounded; both surfaces dull when dry; 
the midrib impressed on the upper, very prominent on the lower; main nerves about 6 
pairs, spreading, very faint; length 3 to 4 inm., breadth 1:25 to 1°6 m.; petiole °15 in. 
Flowers bisexual, yellow and purple, 3 in. in diam., solitary or in short, few-flowered, 
extra-axillary cymes; pedicels ‘3 in. long, with several basal strigose bracteoles, Sepals 
minute, glabrous, deltoid, their edges ciliate. Petals orbicular, concave, sub-acute, 
glabrous; the outer valvate, spreading, yellowish, not much larger than the inner; the 
inner yaulted, but without claws, dark purple. Stamens 12, im two rows. Ovaries 
1 or 2, oblong-oblique, 2-ovuled; the stigma sessile. Carpels sub-sessile, obliquely sub- 
globose, apiculate when young, glabrous, *4 to *6 in. m diam. Bocagea coriacea, 
H. f. & th. £1. Br. Ind, 1. 93; 
Ceylon: altitude 3,000 feet,—Thwactes. 
This plant appears to me to be rather an Orophea than a Bocagea, and I venture to 
retain it in the former genus. The inner petals, it is true, are not clawed, as in typical 
Orophea, but they are vaulted; while the anthers, and especially the 2-ovulate ovary and 
small sessile stigma and ripe carpels, are quite those of Orophea. The outer petals, 
moreover, appear to me to be valvate and not imbricate. Dr. H. Trimen, r.rs., 
suggests (tn Wt.) that it might be advisable to establish a new genus for this plant. 
Dr. Trimen informs me that, in its distribution, this is quite montane. 
Prate 151B. Orophea coriacea, Tawaites. 1, Flowering branch; 2, carpels—of 
natural size; 8, flower with one of the outer petals removed; 4, inner petal; 5 & 6, 
andro-gyncecium; 7, flower with the petals and stamens removed; 8, anther; 9, section 
of ovary—enlarged. (All copied from a drawing made in the Peradeniya Herburium and 
kindly lent by Dr. H. Trimen, F.RS. ) 
18. OropHEA oBLiqua, Hook. fil. & Thoms. Fil. Ind. 112. A tree; young branches 
vather slender, dark-coloured. Leaves thinly coriaceous, shining, oblong-lanceolate to 
elliptic-acute or acuminate, narrowed and slightly oblique at the base; lower surface 
paler than the upper, reticulate; main nerves 5 to 7 pairs, spreading, inter-arching far 
from the edge, faint; length 4 to 5:5 in., breadth 1°5 to 2°25 in.; petiole °15 in. 
Peduncles leat-opposed, supra-axillary or sometimes terminal, -4 to °5 in. long, 1- to 
3-flowered ; pedicels half as long, bracteolate at the base. Flowers bisexual, -25 in. in 
diam., purple. Sepals minute, lanceolate. Petals thick, glabrous, the outer valvate, 
broadly ovate, obtuse; the immer slightly shorter, orbicular, valvate or slightly imbricate, 
vaulted over the stamens and pistil, without claws. Stumens 6, in two rows; the 
connective broad, flat, slightly longer than the broad dorsal anthers. Ovaries 3, oblong, 
shghtly oblique, glabrous, 2-ovuled; stigma sessile, broad, flat. Ripe carpels sessile, 
ovoid-globose, smooth, red, *5 in. in diam. Seeds 1 or 2, globular or slightly com- 
pressed on one side, shining, brown. Orophea? obliqua, H. 7. & T., Thwaites Enum. 
Pl. Ceyl. 8; Beddome Ic. Pl. Ind. Or., t. 72.—Bocagea obliqua, Hook. fil. & Th. Fi. 
Bro ind..x. 93. | 
Ceylon; at low elevations in the Galle and Ratnapura districts. 
Inasmuch as the inner petals of this plant are not clawed, and that they are often 
slightly imbricate, it does not conform strictly to the characters of the genus Orophea as 
previously understood. I have therefore ventured to modify the diagnosis of the genus 
so, as to admit this and the species 0. coriacea. , For in all respects, except the two, just 
