14 NEW OR RARE MALAYAN PLANTS. 



MENISPEKMACEAE. 



Tinomiscium pctiolare, Miers. 



This plant is common about Singapore in woods, 

 and lias been described by Miers, (Contrib. iii. 45. t. i)4) 

 and by Sir George King in the Materials for a flora of 

 the Malay Peninsula I. p. 379. The female flowers 

 however have never been described, and I am quite unable 

 to understand what is meant by the descriptions of the 

 male flowers in either account, as they do not coincide at 

 all with the flowers as I see them. The descriptions how- 

 ever were made from dried and perhaps indifferent speci- 

 mens. I therefore describe the plant afresh from life 

 adding a description of the female flowers from a dried 

 specimen. The plant is a woody climber usually about 

 three inches thick with a milky latex. The leaves are 

 coriaceous dark green ovate oblong obtuse or usually 

 shortly accuminate. The male flowers are in simple 

 racemes tufted from the stem far below the leaves. The 

 flowers are pale green and r % inch across, the pedicel 

 and a small ovate bract at the base are red hairy. The 

 sepals are 3 or 4, very small ovate acute covered with 

 short red. hairs. (I suppose these are the "3 bracts'' 

 mentioned in the other descriptions). The petals are in 

 two series. The six outer ones are linear oblong obtuse, 

 the edges minutely white hairy. They are rather un- 

 equal in size and the four sepals are opposite to the four 

 largest. These petals are spreading. The inner series 

 are shorter oblong with incurved edges white and glab- 

 rous, 6 in number and connivent. The stamens 6, have 

 thick fleshy filaments swollen at the base then narrowed, 

 dilated again and ending in a thick incurved rather beak- 

 like process. The anther cells are widely separated on 

 the outer edges of the thickened upper portion of the 

 filament. I cannot see any trace of a pistil at all. 



The female flowers are borne on a long pendulous 

 panicle 18 inches or more long, bearing long distant 

 racemes 8 inches or more long, pubescent, with flowers 



Jour. Straits Branch 



