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XIV. Illustrations of the Floras of the Malayan Archipelago and of Tropical Africa. By 

 Joseph D. Hookee, Esq., 31.2)., B.JV., F.B.S., L.S. 8r G.S. (With Nine Plates.) 



Read June 21st, 1860. 



X HERE are few countries which possess so many new and imperfectly understood genera 

 of plants as the Malayan Islands and Western Africa ; and the researches of recent travel- 

 lers have added largely to our collections of them. The herharia of the late Mr. Griffith, 

 collected ia the districts around Malacca, Singapore, and Mergui ; of the late Mr. Motley, 

 ill the northern and southern parts of Borneo ; of Mr. Hugh Low, on the same island, and 

 especially on the lofty mountain of Kini Balou ; and of Mr. Thomas Lobb, in Sarawak 

 and Labuan, contain many obscure tropical forms of plants, together with interesting 

 new genera and species of better understood families. In Tropical Africa the researches of 

 the late indefatigable Mr.Barter, on the banks of the Niger river, during Dr.Baikie's expedi- 

 tion, have procured the most extensive and perfect collections ever formed in those countries, 

 which also contain many singular and interesting unpubKshed forms, Mr. Barter's suc- 

 cessor, Mr. Gustav Mann from Kew, has been no less successful in Eernando Po, where 

 he has ascended the Clarence Peak, and procured the first types of a temperate elevation 

 that have hitherto been found in West Tropical Africa*. Other unpublished materials 

 exist from the Gulf of Guinea, collected at Abeokuta by the late Dr. Irving, R.N. ; 

 and still more recently a most valuable and extensive collection of drawings, with ana- 

 lyses, of Eastern Tropical African plants have been received from Dr. Kirk, the accom- 

 plished and indefatigable companion of Dr. Livingstone ; and the collections of that 

 gentleman, which are shortly expected in England, will no doubt supply many more novel- 

 ties of the greatest scientific importance. Erom these and other sources I propose to offer 

 to the Linnean Society a series of papers illustrating the most interesting discoveries they 

 contain. 



Nat.Ord. ANONACEiE. 

 1. OxYMiTEA MoTLETANA (H. f.) ; ramulis pedunculis petiolis costaque foliorum superne 



ferrugineo-tomentosis v. villosis, foliis oblongo-lanceolatis acutis, sepalis abrupte 



acuminatis, petalis coriaceis sericeo-villosis, exterioribus ovato-oblongis acutis, inte- 



rioribus late spathulatis. 

 Hab, In ora septentrional! insulas Borneo ad Labuan, Motley. 

 Rami crassitudine pennae corvinae, tomento patente induti. Folia 6-10" longa, 2h-SV' lata, sicca superne 



fusca V. brunnea subtus pallidiora, venis numerosis lento arcuatis, costa venisque pubescentibus. 



Flares solitarii, extra-axillares, pedunculis crassis, sepalis petalisque dorso dense ferrugineo-villosis. 



Petala suberecta, |" longa. 



* These comprise species of Ttudictrum, Hyjiericum, Ruhus, and Erica, generally very closely allied to Madagascar 

 and Bourbon species. 



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