144 G. King— Materials for a Flora of the Malayan Peninsula. [No. 2, 



Malacca; Perak. Distrib. Sumatra. (Beccari, P. S. No. 643.) 

 21. Xanthophtllum instgne, A. TV". Benn. in Hook. fil. Fl. Br. Ind. 

 I, 211. A glabrous tree with pale branchlets. Leaves drying brown, 

 coriaceous, elliptic, obtuse, the base slightly narrowed ; upper surface 

 shining ; lower dull, pale, the (3-S pairs of nerves and rather wide reticu- 

 lations prominent ; length 4"5 to 6'5 in., breadth 3 to 3"5 in. ; petiole stout, 

 '6 in. Racemes 3 to 4 in. long, axillary, sometimes terminal and panicled. 

 Flowers "6 to "75 in. long; sepals unequal, sub-orbicular, puberulous. 

 Petals spathulate, glabrous except the pubescent claw ; keel adpressed- 

 sericeous, its claw pubescent. Stamens 3, the filaments flat at the base 

 and rising from an annular entire undulate disc which surrounds the 

 ovary. Ovary ovoid, ridged, glabrous, ovules 16 ; style little curved, 

 glabrous. Fruit globose, 3 in. in diam., minutely rugose, pericarp "5 in., 

 thick ; seeds oblong, 1 in. long, embedded in pulp. 

 Malacca ; Maingay, No. 343. Miller. 



Order XII. PORTULACE^]. 

 Herbs, rarely undershrubs. Leaves opposite or alternate, entire ; 

 nodes with scarious or hairy appendages, rarely naked. Intforesc 

 various. Sepals 2, imbricate. Petals 4-5, hypogynous or perigynons, 

 free (or united below), fugacious. Stamens 4-co , inserted with (rarely 

 upon) the petals, filaments slender; anthers 2-celled. Ovary free, or 

 ^-inferior, 1-celled ; style 2-8-fid, divisions stigmatose; ovules 2-oo , on 

 basal funicles or a central column, amphitropal. Capsule with trans- 

 verse or 2-3-valvular dehiscence. Seeds 1- oc, compressed; embryo 

 curved round a mealy albumen. Distrib. Cosmopolitan, chiefly Ameri- 

 can : genera 15, species about 125. 



1. Poetulaca, Linn. 



Diffuse, usually succulent, annual or perennial herbs. Leaves with 

 scaly or hairy nodal appendages. Flowers terminal, surrounded by a 

 whorl of leaves, solitary or clustered. Sepals connate below, the free 

 part deciduous. Petals 4-6, perigynons or epipetalous. Ovary ^-inferior ; 

 style 3-8-fid ; ovules oc. Capsule crustaceous, dehiscing transversely. 

 Seeds oc, reniform. Distrib. Tropical regions, chiefly American ; 

 one or two are cosmopolitan weeds extending to temperate regions ; 

 species 16. 



1. Poktulaca oleracea, Linn. An annual glabrous, sub-succulent, 

 prostrate herb, 6 to 12 inches long ; sometimes with minute scarious 

 appendages at the nodes. Leaves flat, cuneate-oblong, rounded or 

 truncate at the apex, '25 to 125 in. long : petiole very short. Flowers in 

 few-flowered terminal heads or in dichotomous cymes, sessile, surrounded 



