PLANTS OF PRINCE OF WALES ISLAND. 75 



MUSSOENDA. 



Mussoen da fro ndosa. 



Growing abundantly all over the woods, both on the hill 

 and the plain. 



Atropa. 



1. Atropa trichotoma, H. 



Stam : arboreous panicles terminal, trichotomous, divari- 

 cate ; leaves obovate, crowded. Tree middle sized, erect. 

 Branches verticelled, horizontal, covered with a rough 

 muricated bark. Leaves : towards the extremities of the 

 branches, crowded, opposite, decussated, sessile, stem clasping, 

 obovate, large 17" long, 14" broad most entire; smooth; with a 

 middle rib thick, three cornered nerves spreading parallel. 

 Peduncles terminal, trichotomous, forming a divaricating 

 panicle ; common peduncle cylindrical, thick ; lateral ones 

 opposite, decussated, horizontal; again twice trichotomous: 

 proper pedicels very short. Flowers large, within white, 

 without yellowish. Calyx one leafed, five cleft ; segments ovate, 

 erect, closely embracing the base of the corrolla ; when the 

 fruit ripens, spreading, withering. Corolla one petaled, funnel 

 shape, tube cylindrical, short, limb bellied, five cleft, 

 segments ovate, blunt, equal, reflected. Stam: filaments five, 

 arched, declining, awl-shape, rising from the throat of the 

 tube, nearly as long as the corolla, anthers arrow form, vers- 

 atile. Pist: Germen above, oblong, smooth, style thread form, 

 erect, the length of the stamina, stigma headed. Per : Berry 

 oblong, smooth, sitting on the calyx, two celled, with a recep- 

 tacle fleshy, convex on both sides, kidney shape. Seeds, very 

 numerous, small, kidney shape. 



I have placed this under the genus Atropa from the 

 structure of the fruit; but it differs by having the stamina 

 declining and not divergent. 



I do not know whether the tree is indigenous at Prince of 

 Wales's Island. The only one I saw, grew in the area of a 

 house, belonging to a Chinese in George Town. It is said to 



R. A. Soc, No. 53. 1909 



