342 G. King — Materials for a Flora of the Malayan Peninsula. "No. 3 T 



young branches terete, dark-coloured when dry. Leaves thinly coriaceous, 

 oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, entire, the base narrowed; both surfaces 

 pale and rather dull when dry : main nerves 5 or 6 pairs, faint, nor more 

 prominent than the intermediates : length 2*5 to 3*5 in., breadth 1 to 1*75 

 in., petiole '25 to '35 in. Cymes extra-axillary, from 1 to 1*5 in. lonjr ; the 

 peduncle filiform, "5 to '75 in. long. Flowers about 3 to 5, '25 in. in diam., 

 on thin divaricating pedicels '2 to '3 in. long ( longer in fruity. Sepals 

 narrowly reniform, imbricate in two rows, sub-glabrous, pale, the edges 

 dark-coloured and minutely crenulate. Petals larger than the sepals, 

 spreading, rather coriaceous, ovate-rotund, narrowed to the base, 

 glabrous. Stamens 5 ; the anthers broadly ovate, the filaments dilated 

 and conjoined in their lower half into a tube. Disc none. Ovary short, 

 2-celled -. style about as long as the stamens, cylindric, striate, expanded 

 at the apex, the stigma truncate and 2-lobed. Fruit ovoid, glabrous, 

 crowned by the persistent style and with the calyx persistent at the 

 base, "5 in. long, usually 1-celled and 1-seeded, but sometimes 2-celled and 

 2-seeded. Lawson in Hook. fil. Fl. Br. Ind. I. 614 (in part). 



Penang : Wallich's Collector ; Curtis, No. 1025. Malacca: Main gay 

 (Kew Distrib.) No. 392/2. 



The plant here described is that issued by Wallich doubtfully as a 

 Microtropis under the name M ? bivalvis. It is not, as Wallich appa- 

 rently supposed, the plant published by Jack in 1820 (Malayan Mis- 

 cellanies No. V) as Celastrus ? bivalms • for Jack describes his plant 

 as apetalous. I have seen no authentic specimen of Jack's plant ; but 

 I have little doubt that it is, as Miquel believed, the same as the species 

 to receive which that Botanist founded in 1859 the genus Paracelastrus 

 (Miq. Flora Ind. Bat. I, pt. 2, p. 590). Wallich issued under his Cata- 

 logue number 7270, and the name Fuonymus cafjillnceus, a Penang plant 

 with solitary capillary extra-axillary pedicels ; but his specimens have 

 neither flowers nor fruit. It is possible that this may be the lost 

 Celastrus ? bivalvis of Jack. The issue of Wallich's Catalogue was not 

 begun until 1828, eiyht years later th;m the issue of the number of the 

 Malayan Miscellanies where Jack's G. ? bivalvis was published. But, 

 as Wallich correctly suggested the genus Microtropis for his No. 4340, 

 that author's name must stand for this plant, and another must be 

 found for the true apetalous Celastrtis ? bivalvis of Jack, should Miquel's 

 genus Paracelastrus not be maintained. 



4. Microtropis filifotcmis, King. A small tree, 10 to 15 feet high ; 

 young branches slender, terete, dark-coloured when dry. Leaves thinly 

 coriaceous, more or less broadly elliptic, shortly acuminate, the edges 

 sub-undulate, slightly recurved when dry, the base cuneate ; the upper 

 surface shining, the lower dull, pale ; main nerves 5 to 8 pairs, 



