THE BOTANY OF CHRISTMAS ISLAND. 201 



Common at the Waterfall and beyond to Steep rock 

 always close to the sea, and forming tangled masses very 

 hard to penetrate. The plant seems to be absent from 

 the North Coast. Its fruit is a truncate achene with no 

 pappus and is doubtless seaborne. 



Distribution India, Malaga. 



Spi t uh th es acmella. L. 



A common weed of cultivation with heads of yellow 

 flowers, Flying Fish Cove. Collected by me in 1890, not 

 seen before or since. It is one of the common fugacious 

 herbs which appears and disappears in cultivated 

 ground. 



Synedrella nodiflora^ Gaertn. 



A common South American weed with small heads of 

 yellow flowers. 



Extremely abundant in cleared ground in Flying Fish 

 Cove, and at the Phosphate hill quarries. First col- 

 lected by Andrews. Abundant in Singapore and Java, 

 from one of which localities it was probably brought 

 accidentally. 



Sapotace/E. 



Sideroxylon sundaicum, Burck. 



A gigantic tree upwards of 100 feet tall with large 

 buttresses at the base, bark grey, exuding a small 

 quantity of latex when cut. Wood white not very hard. 

 Leaves very variable, lancelolate acuminate acute in 

 young trees and on the lower part of old trees ; above 

 elliptic or obovate glabrous dark green when adult ; 

 covered with ferruginous tomentum when young, four 

 to six inches long, 2-J to three inches wide, nerves 

 7 to 10 pairs conspicuous on the under surface when 

 dry, petiole slender } to 1-J inch long. Racemes 

 numerous in the axils of the leaves 1-^-2 inches long, 

 red tomentose. Flowers 30 or more on each in distant 



F/JL Soc, No. 45, 1905. 



