460 PROF. OLIVER ON A NEW ANISOPHYLLEA FROM MALACCA. 



specimens of it, apparently all of one gathering, and none in fruit. A note by Griffith 

 accompanies the specimens, with a brief description, locality and date of collection 



(1842). 



Anisophyllea Griffithii, sp. nova. Poliis alternis petiolatis lanceolatis v. ovali-lanceo- 

 latis,SEepe leviter acuminatis, apice acutis,coriaceis,siccitate flavescentibus,unicostatis, 

 subtus nervis 2 a basi utrinque margini arete parallelis, venulis vix prominentibus reti- 

 culatis ; floribus in spicis solitariis v. binis axillaribus, singulis arete sessiljbus re- 

 motiusculis ; calyce limbo 4-lobato, lobis coriaceis triangularibus sestivatione valvatis ; 

 petalis calycis lobis alternantibus, iisdem brevioribus, coriaceis, late quadrato-oblongis 

 integris v. vix 3-lobulatis, stamina opposita arete foventibus et cum iisdem plus 

 minus adnatis ; staminibus 8 epigynis, 4 sepalis 4 petalis (longitudine sequalibus) 

 oppositis, filamentis crassiusculis, antheris parvis late rotundatis vel didymis, longitu- 

 dinaliter dehiscentibus ; ovario infero 4-loculari, ovulis solitariis pendulis, stylis 

 4 liberis subulatis. — Arbor verisimiliter. Folia 3-4 unc. longa, l-l-g- lata, petiolo 

 l\-2 lin. SjnccB 1^-2^ unc. ; flares circa 1 lin. diametro. Ager Punnus, Malacca, 

 W. Griffith. (PI. XLVIII.) 



I consider this plant clearly congeneric with Anisophyllea zeylanica, Benth.*, and with 

 A. laurina, Br., of West Africa, the original Anisophyllea, of which I have recently had 

 the opportunity of dissecting flowers from specimens forwarded by Mr. Mann from the 

 Gaboon Biver. The latter I find to have a 4-locular ovary, with a pendulous ovule in 

 each cell and four free styles, as stated by Mr. Bentham in the Addenda to ' Flora 

 Nigritana.' A. Griffithii differs from both the above in the absence of the strongly 

 marked lateral costse of the leaves and the form of the petals, which in A. laurina and 

 A. zeylanica are laciniate or fimbriate. 



Of the remarkable plant described by Jack, in the ' Malayan Miscellanies 'f, under the 

 name of Saloragis disticha, I have not had the opportunity of dissecting flowers ; but 

 from his description, and from the appearance of flowerless specimens, it is very probably 

 a species of Anisophyllea, with which genus it is associated in Sh' W. J. Hooker's 

 Herbarium. 



I cannot but consider that this genus was more correctly disposed of by Mr. Bentham 

 under the order Rhizophoraceaj than it has been since by Drs. Hooker and Thomson in 

 Hamamelidesel, or by Mr. Thwaites in Barringtonie8e§. 



It has no very close affinity with any described genus that I am aware of; but, except- 

 ing in its alternate leaves, it presents much in common with some Bhizophoreous plants, 

 though considerably removed from the true Mangroves. The divided or lobed petals (as 

 in A. zeylanica), closely involute around their opposed stamens (as in A. Griffithii), point 

 strongly to this relationship, which is not weakened by its inferior 4-ceUed ovary and 

 tetramerous symmetry, with valvate aestivation of the calyx. Some of these characters, 

 especially the latter-named, remove it from known genera of Hamamelideee. I have not 



* Niger Flora, p. 34cJ. f Reprint in Calc. Journ. iv. p. 336. % Linn. Proc. ii. p. 85. § En. PI. Zeyl. p. 119. 



