The Peliosanthes of the Malay 
Peninsula. 
BY H.-N. RiIpipry- 
The Peliosanthes belong to a smali group of plants which 
have been put variously in the order Haemodoracee .and 
Liliacew on account of fhe half inferior position of the ovary. 
Mr. Baker in the Journal of the Linnean Society, Vol. xvii. 
puts them among the aberrant Liliaceae, while in the Flora of 
British India they will be found under the Haemodoracee.. No 
one I should imagine would consider them as being related to 
the Australian genus which gives to this order its name, while 
on the other hand aberrant as some kinds are they resemble in 
many respects the group of Liliacew known as Convallarie, 
of which the lily of the valley is a well known type. 
The little group to which the Peliosanthes belongs contains 
three genera. Peliosanthes, Ophiopogon and Liriope, and as they 
are not closely allied to any other group, may be classed as the 
group Ophiopogonee of Liliacee. 
The whole groupis confined to India, Cochin China, China 
and Japan, the Malay Peninsula, and the Malay islands, the 
greater numler beloaging to the Indian and Chinese regions. 
In the Malay Peninsula we have only the genus Peliosanthes 
(with the addition of a single little-known species of Ophiopogon,) 
and of this we have seven species. The remaining species. of 
the genus being found in India (seven species), in Siam and 
Cochin China (two or three) and Javaone species. It is rather 
remarkable that so few are to be found in the neighbouring 
islands, but probably they will be found in Sumatra and Borneo 
as well as in Java when sought for. 
Description of the genus, Peliosanthes. 
Small herbs with a short creeping rhizome, and strong 
wiry roots. Leaves rather stiff, lanceolate or ovate lanceolate 
with long peticles, strongly ribbed, frequently with distinct 
transverse nerves. Inflorescence, a raceme of small flowers 
green or purple, rarely white, usually shorter than the foliage. 
Bracts, lanceolate dry, often more than one to the flower. Flo- 
