1893.] G. King — Materials for a Flora of the Malayan Peninsula. 127 



But, as I have stated in a note under H. micrantha, H. Dryobalanoides 

 appears to be a composite species ; moreover, its author nowhere describes 

 its flowers, For these reasons I think it ought to be suppressed as a 

 species. 



7. Retinodendron, Korthals. 

 Resinous trees, with the leaves, inflorescence, and flowers of Vatica, 

 Ripe fruit globular, crowned by the persistent style, 1-celled, 1-seeded, 

 the pericarp coriaceous, indehiscent. Calyx of ripe fruit slightly ac- 

 crescent, the pieces oblong, nearly equal, and quite free from, and usually 

 shorter than, the fruit (longer in. R. Kunstleri). Isauxis (sub-genus 

 of Vateria) W and A. Distrib. Malaya and British India. Species about 

 10, 



Isauxis was established by Wight and Arnot as a sub-genus of Vateria, Linn, 

 to receive the three species Vateria lancesefolia, Roxb., V. Roxburghiana, Wight and 

 V. Ceylonica, Wight (Stemoporus Wightii, Thw.) and its characters were, " Segments 

 of the calyx ovate, acute, enlarging in fruit ; petals falcate and about three times the 

 length of the calyx : stamens 15 with oblong anther cells ; style short ; stigma 

 clavate, 3—6 toothed : panicles axillary, shorter than the leaves." The other section 

 of Vateria suggested by Wight was Eu-Vateria (the Vateria of Linnasus and of 

 which V. indica, L. is the type) and of this the characters are, " Calyx-segments 

 obtuse, scarcely enlarging in fruit : petals oval, scarcely longer than the calyx : 

 stamens 40 or 50 with linear anther-cells : style elongated : stigma acute ; panicle 

 large and terminal. Korthals, evidently overlooking Wight's Illustrations, pub- 

 lished (Yerh. Nat. G-esch. Ned. Ind. p. 56) his genus Retinodendron to cover 

 one of the very plants {viz., Vateria lanceeefolia, Eoxb.) for which Wight and 

 Arnot founded the sub-genus Isauxis ; and to this Betinodendron Korthals added 

 his own Malayan species R. Rassah and R. paucifiorum. Although Isauxis may have 

 the priority as a sub-genus (Wight's Illustrations were published in 1840, and 

 Korthals' book, just quoted, bears the date 1839 — 1842), Retinodendron takes prece- 

 dence as a genus. The flowers of Retinodendron are exactly those of all the species 

 of Vatica (except the anomalous V. scaphula, Roxb.) inasmuch as the segments of 

 the calyx are slightly imbricate when the bud is very young, becoming valvate as 

 the bud advances in age ; the petals are much longer than broad, their apices are 

 not inflexed in aestivation, and they are not spreading when expanded. The fruit 

 itself is also practically that of Vatica ; bat the fruiting-calyx is different, for its 

 lobes are invariably free from the beginning, they are pretty nearly equal to each 

 other, but (although slightly accrescent) they are in most cases shorter than the fruit. 

 As regards its calyx, Retinodendron is closely allied to Vateria, but it differs from 

 Vateria in its flowers ; for in Vateria the stamens are numerous (40 to 50), the 

 petals are scarcely longer than the segments of the calyx and are spreading ; more- 

 over the inflorescence is longer in Vateria than in Retinodendron, and it is terminal. 

 In short, Retinodendron has the flowers of Vatica and the fruit of Vateria. Dr. 

 Burck forms Retinodendron and Isauxis into sections of the genus Vatica, giving 

 however characters to the section Isauxis which form no part of Wight's original 

 characters of it as a sub-section of Vateria. In Dr. Burck's section Isauxis, " the 

 calyx-lobes are all accrescent, sub-equal to the fruit, or much longer," 

 J. ii. 17 



