1904] D. Prain— r;»e Asiatic species of Ormosia. 45 



The Asiatic species of Ormosia. — By D. Prain. 

 [Read 1st June, 1904.] 



In the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal^ vol, Ixix, pt. 2, 

 pp. 175, et seq.j a list of the Asiatic species of the genus Ormosia 

 was published. The list included 22 species. Since 1900, when the 

 list appeared, further material has been communicated from S. China. 

 This material includes examples in flower of one species, 0. yunnan- 

 ensisj of which previously only the fruits were known; it also includes 

 material both in flower and in fruit of a distinct new species that has 

 been described by Mr. S. T. Dunn, in the Journal of the Linnean Society^ 

 under the name 0. striata. More recently Mr. F. B. Manson, of the 

 Indian Forest Department, has sent from Tavoy a specimen represent- 

 ing yet another species. As it is desirable, therefore, to bring the 

 census of the genus, published four years ago, up to date, the necessary 

 notes, references and descriptions are now offered to the Society. 



The species reported from Tavoy is a member of the group 

 Macrodisca, within the section Ormosia proper, and its place in the 

 genus, most in accordance with the arrangement adopted in the previous 

 paper, will be within the group mentioned, and immediately before 

 7. Ormosia travancorica Bedd. The new Chinese species is compared 

 by Mr. Dunn with 0. gracilis Prain, and in general appearance this is 

 the species that it most resembles. But while it is undoubtedly, like 

 O. gracilis^ a member of the section Ormosia proper, the structure of the 

 fruit and the size of the seeds are repugnant to its inclusion in the 

 group Macrodisca to which 0. gracilis belongs. As a matter of fact 

 the fruit does not accord with the characters of any of the three sub- 

 sections or groups that it has been found advisable to recognise within 

 the section Ormosia, but shows that 0. striata probably deserves to be 

 considered the type of a distinct sub-section, the " Striatae," connecting 

 Macrodisca with Amacrotropis, to be placed alongside and on an 

 equal footing with the sub-section Layia, with which last it agrees in 

 having the valves thi<?kly woody and the seeds small, but from which it 

 differs in not having the pods septate. 



1. Ormosia robusta Bak. 



Add to localities hitherto recorded : — 



Lower Bdema: Tavoy, Shaik Muqiml 



