LXIV. RUDIACE^.. 773 



29. LASIANTHUS, Jack. 

 (Flowers woolly.) 



(Mephiliclia, Reinw.) 



Calyx-limb obscurely toothed or lobed. Corolla-tube usually dilated at the 

 top ; lobes 4 to C, valvate in the bud. Anthers included in the tube or shortly 

 exserted. Ovary 4 to 9-celled, with 1 erect ovule in each cell ; style divided at 

 the top into as many linear stigmatic lobes as ovary-cells. Fruit a drupe, 

 crowned by the calyx-limb, with as many 1 -seeded pyrenes as ovary -cells, or 

 fewer by abortion. — Shrubs or undershrubs, often smelling disagreeably, the 

 specimens usually drying black. Stipules interpetiolar, pointed, with a broad 

 base. Flowers small, in dense clusters or heads, axillary, or, in some species not 

 Australian, terminal. 



The genus extends over tropical Asia, but is chiefly abundant in the Archipelago. One of 

 the Queensland species appears to be the same as one extending from Ceylon over a part at 

 least of the Archipelago, the other is endemic. 



Leaves oblong, S to Sin. long. Corolla about 2 lines long. Fruit ovoid- 

 globular, about 3 lines diameter . , 1. L. strigosus. 



Leaves ovate-lanceolate, 4 to Sin. long. Corolla 2 to 5 lines long. Fruit 



nearly globose, 5 lines diameter . . 2. i. graciliflorus. 



1. Ii. Strigosus (bearing stiff hairs), Wiijht in Calc. Joiim. Xat. Hist. vi. 

 512 ; Benth. Fl. Austr. iii. 426. An erect shrub, the branches and under side of 

 the leaves more or less hirsute with short rigid hairs. Leaves very shortly 

 petiolate, mostly oblong in the Australian specimens, broader in some others, 3 

 to 3in. long, with about 6 or 7 very oblique veins prominent underneath on each 

 side of the midrib, and transverse veinlets. Flowers sessile and clustered, about 

 3 in each axil. Bracts small. Calyx about l^- line long, the limb obscurely 

 toothed, longer thari the adnate tube. Corolla rather more than 2 lines long ; 

 lobes 4 or 5, scarcely so long as the tube. Stamens not exserted. Ovary usually 

 4-celled, with a very thick fleshy concave epigynous disk. Fruit ovoid-globular, 

 about Jin. diameter. — Mephitidia strirjosa, Thw. Enum. Ceyl.Pl. 116. 



Hab.: Eockingham Bay and many other tropical localities. 



These specimens quite agree with Cingalese ones. Blume's character of L. sylvestris, BI. 

 Bijdr. 999, agrees also well with our plant, but not the specimens so named by Miquel. 7/. 

 chinensis, Benth. Fl. Hongk. 160, may also possibly prove to be the same, but, as observed by 

 Thwaites, the whole genus requires much, further investigation before the extent of variation to 

 which the species are liable can be satisfactorily ascerfiained. — Benth. 



2. J,, graciliflorus (flowers slender), Bail. Bot. Bull. v. Stems erect, 

 seldom or never branched, 2 to 4ft. high, more or less hairy. Leaves opposite, 

 nearly sessile, ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, rounded or tapering at the base, 4 to 

 Sin. long, 2 to 2|in. broad, softly hairy, on the back ; primary veins numerous, 

 irregularly looping within the margin, the smaller reticulations prominent on the 

 under side. Stipules uniting within the petioles, broad with a prominent 

 point. Flowers in sessile axillary clusters. Bracts and calyx purplish, about 1 

 line long, eiliate. Calyx-lobes imbricate. Corolla-tube 4 to 5 lines long, very 

 slender, hairy inside ; the lobes acuminate, twisted, imbricate, white, slightly 

 over 2 lines long. Stamens 4, inserted at the top of the tube, the anther-tips 

 alone exserted. Fruit nearly globular, about 5 lines diameter, containing 4 cells 

 or pyrenes. 



Hab.: Tringilburra Creek, Bellenden Ker Expedition, 1889. 



30. HYDNOPHYTUM, Jack. 

 (So named from its thick tuberous stems.) 



Calyx-tube ovoid, limb obscure. Corolla funnel or salver-shaped, tube long or 

 .short ; lobes 4, short, valvate. Anthers 4, subsessile on the corolla-throat, 

 oblong. Ovary 2-celled ; style-branches or arms narrow or broad ; ovule 1, 



