620 Flora of the Malayan Peninsula. 



9. Strychnos pubescens, Clarke in Hook. f. Fl. Br. Ind. IV. 89 

 (1883). A large climbing shrub ; branchlets rather slender, tawny-pube- 

 scent, brown, somewhat striate ; nodes swollen, with a ring ; tendrils 

 single, circinate, tawny-pubescent, enlarged upwards, 1 to 1*5 in. long, 

 each replacing a leaf in end branchlets or occasionally axillary. Leaves 

 yellow when dry, subcoriaceous ; ovate, acute at apex, rounded or some- 

 times attenuate at base, sometimes cordate on ultimate branchlets ; upper 

 surface glabrous or puberulous, lower glabrescent when old, pubescent 

 w^hen young; 1 to 3-5 in. long, -75 to 2-25 in. broad ; 3- to 5-ribbed, midrib 

 and ribs conspicuous, strongly impressed above ; inner pair of ribs from 

 about -3 to -6 in. above the base, starting at about 30°, outer pair at about 

 45° with the midrib starting from close to the base ; main nerves joining 

 them to the midrib arched, about 6 pairs ; reticulations obscure ; petiole 

 ■1 to "2 in. long. Cymes small, axillary and subterminal, dense, up to 

 •75 in. in diam., tawny-puberulous to pubescent ; bracts lanceolate, 

 small ; pedicels short, with 2 bracteoles ; buds oblong ; flowers white. 

 Calyx very small ; lobes rounded, ciliate, '04 in. long. Gorolla-tvibQ a 

 little longer than the lobes, cylindric, minutely puberulous without, gla- 

 brous within ; lobes glabrous within, but each with a dense tuft of white 

 bristles at its base ; tube and lobes together -125 in. long. Stamens in- 

 serted on the middle of the tube, sessile or with minute filaments ; anthers 

 ovate, "025 in. long, apiculate, retrorsely sparsely hairy at base only. Ovary 

 glabrous ; style very short ; stigma capitate. Berry globose, "3 to "6 in. 

 in diam. ; pericarp thin, crustaceous. Seeds 1 to 2, flat or concave on 

 one surface, convex on the other, -5 in. long by '4 in. broad. 



Penang : Curtis 970, 3649. Perak : at Larut, Scortechini 1485 ; at 

 Eelan Tujor, Wray 1916 ; at Thaipeng, Wray 3048 ; at Selama, Wray 

 4278 ; at Larut, King's Collector 2441, 3623, 6276, 6477. Malacca : 

 Maingay (K.D.) 1040 ; Curtis 3494. Negri Sembilan : at Perhentian 

 Tinggi, Biclley 10089. Singapore : at Bukit Timah, Bidley 6317. 



Scortechini, in his notes on his No. 1858, says he thinks that that specimen "shows 

 some differences from S. imhcscens which may amount to specific distinction ; the 

 flowers being pedicellate, the apex of the anthers obtuse, and the style long," No. 1858 

 is clearly the very last part of a long climbing branch, and such parts often differ a 

 good deal from the more typical parts, so that we are doubtful of its being capable of 

 separation, and prefer to call it: — 



Var. Scortechinii, King & Gamble. Leaves ovate, acute at apex, 

 rounded at base or almost cordate, densely, softly rusty-tomentose on 

 the lower surface ; ribs 3 to 5, starting close to the base. Cymes small, 

 axillary. Stamens inserted above the middle of the tube of the corolla, 

 not apiculate. Style longer than in type. Berry oblong. 



Perak : at Dambung Batak, Scortechini 1858. 



