6 



green and yellow, of that of the Avocado Pear, which in flavour, it 

 is said, much to resemble. The fruits I received from Mr. HEWITT 

 were too ripe to eat, but I am assured by all that the flavour is 

 delicious. 



The wood is not used being quickly destroyed by termites. An oil 

 is extracted from the seeds by the natives but for what use is not 

 known. 



The fruit can be eaten raw like an Avocado Pear, or it is used 

 in curries as a sumbul. Mrs. ELLIS tells me she has made a very 

 pleasing dish by extracting the stone and filling the space with 

 Mayonnaise Sauce, the fruit being previously cooked. The Dyaks 

 scald it and eat it with salt. The tree is well worth cultivating not 

 only for its fruit but for its intrinsic beauty. It is a tree of large 

 size with dark green leaves glaucous beneath. The flowers pro- 

 duced in vast abundance are yellow, so plentiful indeed are they 

 that the ground beneath the tree when I saw it was quite covered 

 with those that had fallen. 



Like the Avocado Pear [Per sea gratissima) the tree belongs to 

 the order Laurineoe and to the very large genus Litsea. 

 The following is a description of the plant: — 



Litsea per sella, n. sp. — A tree of great size, 40 to 60 feet tall with 

 a stout stem. Leaves lanceolate inaequilateral, apex of the midrib 

 prolonged beyond the blade to form a mucro, base cuneate, above 

 deep green coriaceous shining beneath glaucous, nerves elevated 

 beneath slender 13 pairs, 9 inches long 3 inches wide, alternate 

 petiole half an inch long. Racemes axillary \\-2 inches long, 

 rachis angled pubescent. Heads of flowers 2 or 3 together on a 

 short silky pubescent peduncle. Male flowers, bracts 3 ovate silky 

 pubescent obtuse keeled. Flowers 5 on short thick silky pedicels. 

 Perianthlobes 3-4 unequal ovate or linear — ovate silky, a few 7 scale 

 like processes at the base of the stamens. Stamens 12 filaments 

 slender hairy. 



The female flowers I have not seen. The fruit is borne in a green 

 cup \\ inch across, and shallow with a thickened obconic base an 

 inch long. 



Fruit globose with slightly flattened top, ii inch through, smooth 

 shining red, pulp thick fleshy green. Seed rounded-flattened nearly 

 an inch through shining pale brown. 



H. N. Ridley. 



NEW PALMS AND AROIDS. 



The following palms have been added to the collection in the 

 Botanic Gardens since the previous list was published in the 

 Bulletin :— 



Pinan ga sp. ... ... Borneo 



P. acaulis Ridl. ... Perak 



Ptychosperma, n. sp. .,. ... Solomon Islands 



Geonoma y n. sp. ... . . Mexico 



