LORANTHACEAE 



207 



axillaribus, solitariis vel fasciculatis, brevibus, pedunculis 2- ad 

 4-floris, circiter 5 mm longis; floribus 6-meris, circiter 2.5 cm 

 longis, corollae tubo sursum prominente 6-angulato, bracteis late 

 ovatis, circiter 1.5 mm longis, bracteolis paullo minoribus, con- 

 natis, integris vel retusis. 



A stout, parasitic, glabrous shrub, the branches up to at 

 least 60 cm in length, terete, brownish, somewhat lenticellate, 

 the branchlets smooth, reddish-brown. Leaves opposite, thickly 

 coriaceous, rather pale-greenish when dry, shining, oblong-ovate, 

 or some of the smaller ones oblong-lanceolate, 14 to 18 cm long, 

 4 to 7 cm wide, base acute to subrounded, apex shortly and 

 broadly blunt-acuminate; lateral nerves about 8 on each side 

 of the midrib, slender, anastomosing, more prominent on the 

 upper than on the lower surface, the reticulations lax; petioles 

 stout, 1 to 1.5 cm long. Inflorescence axillary, of solitary or 

 fascicled, short peduncles up to 5 mm in length, each peduncle 

 bearing at its apex from 2 to 4 short-pedicelled flowers, the 

 peduncles 5 mm long or less, the pedicels about 2 mm in length. 

 Flowers 6-merous, about 2.5 cm long, dark-red below, each 

 subtended by one bract which is broadly ovate, acute, about 1.5 

 mm long, the bracteoles entirely united or slightly refuse at 

 the apex, nearly as large as the bract. Calyx cylindric, truncate, 

 about 5 mm long. Corolla-tube about 6 mm long, inflated, prom- 

 inently 6-angled or narrowly 6-winged in the upper one-third, 

 the lobes 6, about 3 mm wide at the base, abruptly narrowed, 

 about 14 mm long and 2 mm wide, thick, acute, spreading or 

 reflexed. Filaments about 6 mm long, attached near the base 

 of the lobes, the anthers continuous, linear, about 4 mm long. 



This species is sufficiently well characterized by its opposite, 

 shining, rather large leaves, and especially by its axillary, soli- 

 tary or fascicled, very short, 2- to 4-flowered peduncles. In Ely- 

 tranthe it is distinguished by its bracteoles being either entirely 

 connate into a single one nearly as large as the bract, or at 

 most merely refuse at the apex. 



It is by no means certain that the plant here described repre- 

 sents Viscum amboinense rubrum of Rumphius, as his short 

 description does not well conform. Rumphius compares his 

 plant with Viscum amboinicum album = Loranthus rumphii 

 Merr., with which the present species has little in common. 

 Viscum amboinense rubrum, moreover, was parasitic on small 

 trees near the seashore, while Elytranthe amboinensis grows at 

 an altitude of about 350 meters. Hasskarl, Neue Schliissel 

 (1866) 95, suggests that Viscum amboinicum rubrum may 

 be the same as Macrosolen evenius (Blume) Miq. = Loranthus 



