172 OCCASIONAL NOTES. 



that of the parasitic Monotropa, or Indian pipe, of the 

 English woods. 



The plant is probably saprophytic, taking its nourishment 

 from the decaying leaves in which it grows, but it is possible 

 that it is parasitic on some other plant or tree. It frequents 

 the drier parts of the wood, at from 2,000 to 3,000 feet ele- 

 vation. 



Petrosavia seems certainly to belong to the order Liliacess, 

 an order but scantily represented in the Malayan region, but 

 its affinity to any other liliaceous plant is very obscure. The 

 whole order is most plentifully represented in the North 

 temperate region, and in Africa and Australia, but species 

 occur in almost every part of the globe. In the Malay 

 Peninsula we have very few genera — Dracaena, with a number 

 of species; Smilax, four or five ; Dianella, one species ; and 

 a very curious plant, the Tupistra (?) singaporiana, Bak, 

 found in Singapore many years ago by Dr. WALLICH, 

 and never seen since, unless a remarkable plant, of which 

 one specimen in fruit was found by myself and Mr. CURTIS 

 in the Cypripedium valley on Penang Hill this spring, is this 

 species. All these have berried fruit, but Petrosavia belongs 

 to the capsule-bearing section of the order. 



Mr. Baker, in the Journal of the Linnean Society, vol. XVII, 

 p. 492, and HOOKER in the Genera Plantarum, put it in the 

 neighbourhood of Tofieldia, which in the latter work is class- 

 ed with the section Narthecise, but it seems to me to be more 

 nearly allied to the Anther icea?. It is, however, very distinct 

 from any genus in either of these groups, and, owing to its 

 peculiar habit (for it is the only known saprophytic liliacea), 

 it is so modified that many of its characters throw no light 

 on its relationship. Besides its saprophytic habit, it is almost 

 unique in having the carpels of the capsule free from each 

 other and spreading widely, and in the peculiar structure of 

 the seeds. Our further researches into the Malayan flora may, 

 we may hope, eventuate in discovering other liliaceous plants 

 allied to Petrosavia which will enable us to clear up doubts 

 as to its position. 



H. N. R. 





