THE BOTANY OF CHRISTMAS ISLAND. 193 



23, Miq. Fl. Ned, Ind. 1, p. 486. Baker Flor Christ- 

 mas Island. 



A tree about 30 feet or more tall rather slender and 

 straight. Leaves crowded at the tips of the branches 

 obovate or oblanceolate acuminate narrowed to the 

 winged petiole, 10 inches long by 4 inches wide, edges 

 crenate serrate, nerves about 16 pairs, petiole winged 

 nearly to the base corky_^ inch long. Racemes pendulous 

 1^-2 feet long, rachis slender. Flowers rather distant 

 on slender pedicels \ inch long. Calyx lobes 4 pale green 

 ovate oblong \ inch long. Petals twice as long oblong. 

 Stamens 1 inch long white or rose pink. Fruit 2 inches 

 long | inch through green oblanceolate in outline narrow- 

 ed to the base and shortly beaked, very obscurely four 

 angled. 



Common in the woods on the upper terraces, and 

 plateau, and occasionally lower. 



Distribution Banka, Patjetan, South Java and 

 Amboina. 



This plant has been erroneously referred to B. 

 racemosa but as Miers (Trans. Linn. Soc. Sec. II. 

 vol. i. p. 69 has very properly shown, B. racemosa of 

 many authors is a mixture of several distinct species, 

 and the original species is Indian only. From B. 

 inclyta Miers the common plant of the Malay Penin- 

 sula, this species differs in its much thinner and smaller 

 leaves, and much smaller flowers and fruits. B. inclyta 

 is a typical sea shore plant and grows in damp muddy 

 spots near the sea. It is included under B. racemosa 

 in the Flora of British India and the Materials of the 

 Flora of the Malay Peninsula. B. rubra is a woodland 

 plant Rumaphius describes it as growing in sulphureous 

 and gravelly soil and it grows in Christinas Island 

 among the detritus of coral reefs. The flowers are 

 either white or rose pink. I was unable to find any 

 other distinction between the two forms, I observed 

 that the fruits were untouched though abundant by any 



R A. Soc, No. 45, 1905 



