504 Flora of the Malayan Peninsula. 



albumen scanty ; cotyledons narrowly linear, elongate ; radicle very 

 short. — DiSTBiB. India and Malaya, about 4 species. 



Leaves almost coriaceous, broad ; inflorescence many-branched, 



many-flowered ; corolla-lobes short, often forked, reflexed . . 1. M. polyantha. 



Leaves chartaceous, narrow ; inflorescence scarcely branched, 



very few-flowered ; corolla-lobes long, not forked, spreading . . 2. M. elliptlca 



var. ScortecMnii. 



1. MicEECHiTES POLYANTHA, Miq. Fl. lud. Bat. II. 457 (1856). A slen- 

 der climbing shrub ; branches obscurely angled ; branchlets dark brown, 

 terete; innovations sparsely pubescent. Leaves chartaceo-coriaceous ; 

 eUiptic-obovate elKptic-oblong or oblong-lanceolate, obtuse or obtusely 

 acuminate at apex, cuneate attenuate or sometimes slightly rounded at 

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

 midrib stout, prominent beneath ; main nerves 10 to 15 pairs, slender, 

 at an angle of 60^ to 70^ with the midrib, nearly straight to join in an 

 obscure intramarginal nerve ; secondary nerves many, similar to and 

 between but more slender than the main nerves ; reticulations very 

 obhque ; petiole '5 to 1 in. long, channelled above, often twisted. Cymes 

 terminal and axillary, thyrsoid, rusty-tomentose, much branched, at length 

 often elongating in slender bracteolate racemes, reaching 5 to 7 in. in 

 length and 3 in. in breadth ; rachises angular or flattened ; peduncle to 

 2 in. long; pedicels very short and stout, -05 to -1 in. long; bracts lanceo- 

 late, caducous ; bracteoles very many, persistent, ovate, acute or" obtuse^ 

 conspicuous especially after the fall of the flowers ; buds ovoid or 

 conical ; flowers white. Calyx campanulate ; lobes ovate, rounded, 

 rusty-tomentose without, glabrous within, -05 to "15 in. long ; the base 

 inside furnished vrith minute scales mixed with villous hairs. Corolla 

 campanulate or urceolate, '15 to '2 in. long, contracted at the mouth, 

 glabrous without, puberulous ^vithin ; lobes falcately lanceolate with a 

 knee at the base, or bilobed, the divisions unequal, much reflexed, 

 pubescent at the mouth, -05 to -125 in. long. Anthers acuminate. Ovary 

 densely villous. Follicles terete, cylindric, 6 to 12 in. long, divergent 

 at about 120^ and curving upwards so as nearly or quite to meet again, 

 acuminate at tip ; pericarp thin, dark bro\vn, glabrous. Seeds linear- 

 oblong, narrow, compressed, 1 to 1'5 in. long, somewhat enlarged 

 at the apex and furnished with a thick, close, persistent, tawny coma 

 2 in. long ; testa thin, dark brown ; albumen scanty ; cotyledons 

 Hnear, very slender, 1 in. long ; radicle minute. Hook. f. Fl. Br. Ind. 

 III. 671. Tabernamontana polyaMtha, Blume Bijd. 1029 ; A. DC, 

 Prodr. VIII. 376. 



Penang: Curtis 850; Bidley 9426. Peeak : Bidley 2896; Wray 

 1815, 2604 ; King's Collector 4430, 5875. 6564, 6840, 8404, 8859, 10003- 



