MYRISTICA MAGNIFICA. (Nat. order MyristiceEe.) 



■t or 'Gen. Char, see-letter preas to PI. cclxvii. 



MYRISTICA MAGNIFICA. (Bedd.) An immense tree with a lofty straight trunk up to 90-100 feet and of great girth, 

 in 3'oung trees large roots proceed from the lower 6-8 feet of the trunk, these increase with the growth of the tree and form very large 

 buttresses in the older trees. Young parts clothed with reddish or golden tomentum, leaves very coriaceous oblong to elliptic acute 

 or almost acuminate, in the older trees 10-15 inches long, but in young trees up to 2 feet long, above glabrous in age, beneath densely 

 clothed with close set reddish-golden stellate tomentum, primary veins 20-26 on each side impressed above, very prominent and raised on 

 the under surface and reaching nearly to the margin where they are looped, intermediate parallel veins wanting, transverse veinlets only 

 visible on the upper side : petioles 3-14 lines long channelled on the upper side ; male flowers 8-20 together in short dense axillary 

 clusters densely clothed with golden tomentum, the common peduncle or tubercle often 2-cleft very thick woody 1-8 lines long, pedicels 

 thick scarcely a line long or altogether absent, perianth about 2 lines long subglobose or somewhat oblong short 3-cIeft at the apex 

 with an ovate bract adnate to its base, antheriferous column included not much swollen, hairy only at the base, slightly and bluntly 

 apiculate above the anthers, anthers 8-10 covering nearly % of the column; female flowers not seen, fruit oblong solitary or 2 

 together in the axils on very thick short pedicels, 3-3J inches long by 2 inches broad, hoary on the outside, mace or aril deeply cleft 

 into a few broad divisions with these again much lacerated and covering the apex of the seed. 



This is one of the most magnificent trees in the Presidency. Specimens only in leaf sent to Kew were pronounced to be the M. Malaba- 

 rica, but the inflorescence is utterly at variance with the descriptions of that tree. This species 1 have only seen in South Travancore, where 1 met 

 with it most abundant and gregarious (in fruit in August) in the dense moist forests quite in the plains not far from the foot of the ghats round 

 about Mimootee near Colatoorpalay ; it is a most conspicuous and beautiful tree, and 1 do not think it could have escaped my observation if it 

 inhabited Malabar or Canara. Every sapling was amply furnished with large roots proceeding from the base of the trunk up to 6 or 8 feet from 

 the ground., and these formed immense buttresses in the old trees, many of which were very much over 100 feet high with a perfectly erect trunk of 

 80 or 90 feet in length and of great girth. I haoe since (in February) received flowers, but unfortunately only male : it is most allied to M. laurifoha 

 but a very different looking tree ; the leaves are very much larger with a different pubescence and venation, the antheriferous column is different and- 

 the fruit is much larger. I collected a great quantity of the fruit of this species, and they were all exactly oblong and often nearly 4 inches long. 

 The fruit of laurifolia varies from oblong to globose and does not, 1 think, exceed 2£ inches in length. 



Analysis. 



1. A branch of the female tree, the fruit burst and one of the valves removed, to show the seed and aril, the primary veins on the 



leaf most promiueut, no intermediate parallel less developed veins as in laurifolia. 



2. A branch of the male tree in flower. 



3 "Under surface of a leaf shewing the densely matted stellate pubescence. 



4. Male flower with its bract. 



5. Tbe same open. 



6. The antheriferous column, | covered with the anthers, the base hairy. 



268 



