Ord. myristicace^. 



1. MYKISTICA, Linn. 



1. MYRISTICA CASTANE^EFOLIA, Sp. Nov. 



M. foliis oblongis sen oblongo-lanceolatis sensim acutis basi rotundatis 

 glabris subtus albidis multicostatis ; floribus axillaribus, mascuHs 

 amentaceo-spicatis, rlmchi incrassata scepius furcata deflexa; fructu 

 subsessili oblongo tomentuloso. 



Hab. Ovolau, Feejee Islands, on mountains ; common. 



A middle-sized tree. Branclilets thick, with a rough and wrinkled 

 bark, glabrous; the youngest parts barely ferrugineous-puberulent. 

 Leaves oblong and oblong-lanceolate, large, from 8 or 10 inches to a 

 foot in length, and 3 or 4 inches wide, of a thick coriaceous 

 texture, rounded at the base, toward the apex usually tapering gra- 

 dually to a more or less acute point, glabrous, even when young, 

 conspicuously feather-veined with 20 to 30 pairs of straight and 

 simple ribs, which are rather prominent underneath, anastomosing 

 near the margin, connected with somewhat conspicuous transverse 

 veinlets, green above, whitish underneath. Petiole thick and stout, an 

 inch or an inch and a half long. Flowers axillary, or slightly supra- 

 axillary ; the fertile not seen ; the sterile spicate on a thickened rliachis, 

 so as apparently to form a kind of ament. At least, the specimens 

 (which are in an advanced state) exhibit stout and lignescent derlexed 

 spines, or rhachises, solitary in the axils of the leaves, or above leaf- 

 scars, or some of them apparently supra-axillary, simple or oftener 

 forked, an inch or less in length and over 2 lines in thickness, squar- 

 rose with strong scars which mark the insertion of bracts, and appa- 



