;<U() H. N. Ridley — New species of Entada. [No. 2, 



inch, much swollen at the base, pinnae four alternate with petiolules 

 one inch long swollen at base, leaflets alternate rarely opposite, some- 

 what distant, with very short stalks elliptic to obovate-oblong retuse 

 inaequilateral, 2 to 3 in. long, 1 in. or less wide, dark green un- 

 polished above, glaucous beneath, tendril long, bifid at the apex. 

 Flower-spikes axillary 6 in. long, peduncle 2 in. long, swollen at 

 base, rachis purplish-brown covered with short stiff hairs. Bracts 

 minute lanceolate hairy. Flowers copious densely crowded, shortly 

 pedicellate. Calyx campanulate with five teeth, hairy, green. Corolla- 

 lobes 4 or 5, oblong obtuse glabrous green, 2 mm. long. Stamens 8 to 10, 

 at first white soon becoming yellow, filaments J inch long filiform ; 

 anthers globose terminal. Ovary cylindrical oblong ; style about as 

 long as the stamens, stigma concave. 



The pods are crowded together, three or four being produced on a 

 peduncle. They are contorted into a spiral all coiled together, with 

 five to eleven seeds in each pod. The margins are undulate, and not 

 thickened, and the walls are not woody and remain always green. 

 When ripe the pod breaks up into joints which as they fall dehisce. 



The seeds vary much in size ; they are obscurely triangular in 

 outline or heart-shaped. The larger ones are about two inches long 

 and broad and an inch thick. The testa is chocolate-brown, dull and 

 less woody than in E. scandens. The plant is very abundant in Singa- 

 pore and I have also seen it in Province Wellesley. It usually grows 

 in loose scrub on the edges of woods, or among secondary growth. It 

 constantly throws up shoots from the roots, and is a troublesome plant 

 to eradicate. The shoots are of a purple black colour. The flower- 

 spikes are usually produced immediately after the fall of the leaves, 

 in December or January, but by the time the flowers are open the plant 

 is clad again in leaves. The period of flowering, however, is rather 

 irregular and flowers may often be met with at other seasons. The flowers 

 are fertilized by Diptera, chiefly Syrphidas. A good proportion of them 

 possess no pistil, but are entirely male. The seed is dispersed chiefly 

 by monkeys which eat portions of the pods, and throw the seeds about. 



The plant is called Akar Beluru by the Malays, as is also E. Pur- 

 saetha DC. 



E. pursaetha, DC. described by Dr. Prain (J. A. S. B. lxvi. 2. 242) 

 under the name of E. scandens Benth. is a much less common plant in 

 the Malay Peninsula. I have only met with it in Pahang. The plant 

 described and figured by Scheffer under the name Entada Rumphii (Nat. 

 Tijds. Ned. Ind. xxxii. t. xvii. xviii. B) seems to me to differ in the 

 form of the pod only. The foliage of E. Pursaetha seems to vary very 

 much as does that of E. spiralis, and were it not for the fruit I should 



