Flora of tlic Malayan Peninsula. 57 



3. Pentaphkagma Eidleyi, n. sp., King & Gamble. A fleshy 

 herbaceous plant, 10 to 12 in. in height ; stem "25 in. thick, smooth, at 

 first creeping afterwards erect. Leaves ovate, equal-sided, bluntly 

 acute at apex, cuneate at base, 6 to 8 in. long, 3-5 to 4*5 in. broad, 

 glabrous on both surfaces, entire or only very minutely dentate on the 

 margin ; midrib broad, main-nerves 4-5 pairs nearly straight, slanting 

 upwards; petiole 1 in. long. Inflorescence a short, 1 to 1"5 in. long, 

 nearly sessile spike, with 2-ranked flowers between ovate-spathulate 

 usually 3-nerved glabrous pale bracts ; each flower with a -15 in. 

 long, linear-spathulate, 1-nerved bracteole, ciliate at tip; flowers small, 

 •2 to '25 in. long, Calyx-tube adnate to the ovary ; lobes 4-5, equal or 

 unequal in size, usually •! in. long, 3-nerved, the nerves arching. 

 Corolla-tube short, lobes 4-5, linear-oblong, emarginate, recurved, 

 glabrous without, minutely pubescent within, white spotted at base 

 with purple, nerves 3. Stamens adnate at base to the corolla-tube, 

 •05 to "07 in. long, anthers club-shaped, filaments dilated below. Ovary 

 turbinate, 3-celled ; ovules many on axile placentas ; stigma rounded, 

 3-5-lobed, on a very short conical style. Fruit a berry, conical at top, 

 apparently indehiscent ; seeds rather few and large ; testa beautifully 

 reticulate. 



SiNGAPOKE : Biclley 103. — In damp ravines at Bukit Timah (Herb. 

 Kew). 



4. Sphenoclea, Gaertn. 



An annual erect glabrous herb, of marshy places. Leaves alternate, 

 lanceolate, entire. Flowers in dense cylindric terminal or leaf-opposed 

 peduncled spikes ; very small, sessile, each with one bract and two 

 bracteoles. Calyx-tube adnate to the ovary, turbinate or hemispherical; 

 lobes 5, sub-foliaceous. Corolla campanulate, 5-lobed, valvate. Stamens 

 5, inserted on the base of the corolla; filaments shortly dilated; anthers 

 short, free. Ovary semi-inferior, 2-celled; placentas axile, bearing 

 many ovules ; style short, stigma obscurely 2-lobed. Capsule semi- 

 inferior, depresso-globose, circumsciss at the margin of the calyx-tube, 

 the crown and calyx-lobes deciduous. Seeds very numerous, minute, 

 oblong. A single species. 



Sphenoclea zeylanica, Gaertn. Fruct. I. 113, t. 24, fig. 5. An 

 erect annual herb, 1 to 2 feet high. Leaves alternate, lanceolate, 

 narrowed at both ends, 2 to 3 in. long, -25 to 1 in. broad, entire, sessile 

 or shortly petioled, smooth, midrib and main-nerves faint. Floivers in 

 •dense, cylindric, terminal or leaf-opposed, peduncled spikes ; peduncles 

 •5 to 1 in. long; spikes -5 to 1-5 in., bract and bracteoles very small. 

 Calyx-tube adnate to the ovary, turbinate or hemispherical, lobes 5, 

 ovate, '05 to "06 in. long, somewhat enlarged in fruit and inflexed over 



