Flora of the Malayan Peninsula. 187 



14. Bassia Motleyana, Clarke in Hook. f. Fl. Br. Ind. III. 546 



(1882). An erect lofty tree of swampy places; branchlets dark brown, 

 marked by prominent leaf-scars. Leaves coriaceous ; elliptic, shortly and 

 abruptly acuminate at apex, cuneate at base, the two sides sometimes 

 unequal; glabrous on both surfaces ; 4to 5 in. long, 1-5 to 2-5 in. broad ; 

 midrib prominent, raised above ; main-nerves 10 to 12 pairs, irregularly 

 spaced, generally at about an angle of 60° with the midrib, meeting near 

 the margin in a looped intramarginal nerve ; secondary nerves prominent, 

 similar to the main-nerves, reticulations few; petiole "8 to 1*2 in. long, 

 rather thick, bordered by the decurrent margins of the blade. Floiuers 

 fascicled, many together (10 to 12), in the axils of the leaves or of the 

 scars of fallen leaves below the terminal tuft, often fully clothing 

 the branchlets for a distance of 6 in. or more ; pedicels slender, -4 to 

 •7 in. long, buds ovoid. Calyx-lobes 4, '15 to -2 in. long, ovate, obtuse 

 or somewhat acute, sparsely pubescent, the inner pair somewhat 

 scarious on the margins. Corolla campanulate, '15 to '2 in. long ; 

 tube short, about ^ of the whole ; lobes 8, 4 outer enclosing 4 inner, 

 oblong-spathulate, obtuse at tip and ciliately ferruginous-pubescent. 

 Stamens 16, inserted on the top of the tube on a ring of long ferruginous 

 hairs ; filaments short, slender ; anthers ovate-lanceolate, short-apiculate. 

 Ovary rounded, villous, 6-8-celled ; style '5 in. long, thick, sparsely 

 pubescent. Fruit an obovoid glabrous berry, acute at top and 

 furnished with the remains of the persistent style ; calyx-lobes also 

 persistent ; "5 in. long, '3 in. broad, 1-2-seeded. Seeds oblong, acute at 

 both ends ; testa crustaceous, shining ; albumen none ; cotyledona 

 fleshy; radicle small. Burck in Ann. Jard. Buit. V. 44. Isonandra 

 Motleyana, de Vriese in Miq. Journ. Bot. Neerl. I. (1861) 257. 



Malacca : Griffith (K.D.) 3608 ; Derry 1026. Johobe : Bidley 6496. 

 Singapore : Bidley 5645, 5896. — Disteib. Borneo (fide Burck). 



De Vriese says the milky juice gives a gutta of bad quality, being more waxy and 

 fragile than that of other kinds. 



Var. Scortechinii, King & Gamble. Leaves much larger, 6 to 8 in. 

 long, 2-5 to 3-5 in. broad, main-nerves 15 or 16 pairs. Fruit nearly 

 globose — a dark green berry, shining when dry. 



Perak : Scortechini, at Port Weld, No. 1550 ; King's Collector 5454, 

 6735, on low, wet ground — a tree reaching 60 to 80 feet in height and 

 15 to 20 in. in diam. 



15. Bassia cuneata, B1. Bijdr. 675. A tree (?) ; branchlets dark 

 brown, scarred, rather thick. Leaves coriaceous ; clustered at the 

 ends of the branchlets, greenish-brown when dry, obovate, obtuse- 

 emarginate or very shortly and abruptly acute at apex, cuneate at base ; 



