Flora of the Malayan Peninsula 867 



length and 6 in. in breadth; main branches usually 1 pair only, with slender 1 to 1-5 in 

 peduncles ; heads in pairs on short (-2 to -3 in. long) peduncles, the pairs 1 to 2 in. 

 apart along the raceme ; bracts leafy, coloured ; involucral bracts 4, grey-tomentose, 

 oblong-spathulate, 1 to 1-5 in. long, -4 in. broad, within tiiem a pair of linear-setaceous 

 bracteoles about -3 in. long; flowers light purple. Calyx tubular, funnel-shaped, 

 densely villous on both sides but especially within, -3 in. long; teeth triangular, 

 •075 in. long, acute. Corolla-tuhe cylindric, slender, -3 in. long, glabrous except the 

 ring of villous hairs at the mouth within ; 2-lipped, the upper lip of 2 lobes longer 

 than the 8 lobes of the lower, margins of the lobes crenulate. Ovary obovoid, gla- 

 brous except a few glandular dots at top ; style very slender. Drupe obovoid, dry ; 

 exocarp crustaceous, smooth, tipped with the persistent base of the style. Seed 1, 

 with the remains of the placenta and 3 abortive ovules ; testa extremely thin, mem- 

 branous; cotyledons unequal, one concave, the other convex, fleshy, -125 in. in diam., 

 the apex depressed ; radicle very small. 



SuMATEA : in deep forest. Lampongs, Forbes 1567. 



Tribe V. Avicennie^. 



15. AviCENNiA, Linn. 



Shrubs or small trees with long creeping roots which give out at 

 intervals narrow, conical, leafless suckers. Leaves coriaceous, opposite, 

 entire. Floiuers small, sessile, in capitate pedunculate heads of close 

 centripetal cymes which are in pairs in the upper axils or in short 

 terminal trichotomous thyrsi or corymbs; bracts small, shorter than 

 the calyx. Calyx short, 5-partite, unaltered in fruit ; segments ovate, 

 concave, deeply imbricate. Corolla-tuhe short, cylindric ; lobes 4, sub- 

 equal or the posterior lobe slightly the largest. Staviens 4, inserted on 

 the corolla-throat ; filaments short ; anthers shortly exsert ; cells ellip- 

 soid, parallel. Ovary imperfectly 4-celled by a 4-winged central axis ; 

 ovules 4, pendulous between the axial wings ; style tapering ; stigma 

 bifid. Fruit a compressed capsule, dehiscent by 2 leathery valves. 

 Seed solitary, erect ; embryo imperfectly covered by the 2 integuments ; 

 albumen none ; cotyledons large, longitudinally plicate ; the radicle 

 inferior, thick, villous, the plumule conspicuous, developing before the 

 seed falls. — Disteib. Muddy estuaries and sea-coasts of the warmer 

 regions of the globe ; species 4 or 5. 



Leaves obtuse at apex; capsule over 1 in. long; corolla-tube distinct ; 



stamens exsert ; style long .. .. .. .. 1. A. offLciiudU. 



Leaves acute or acuminate at apex ; capsule under 1 in. long ; corolla- 

 tube almost none ; stamens included ; style very short .. .. 2. A. alba. 



1. AviCBNNiA OFFICINALIS, Linn. Sp. PI. 110 (1753). A small tree 

 with greyish-brown thin bark and many blind root-suckers ; branchlets 

 pale brown, subquadrangular, glabrous when old ; young ones, young 

 leaves and inflorescence with very close pale tomentum. Leaves coria- 

 ceous ; elliptic-oblong or obovate, obtuse at apex, attenuate at base ; upper 



