LAURACEAE 



237 



karl, Neue Schlussel (1866) 51, that it belongs in the Lauraceae, 

 and of Machilus II femina Rumph. that it might be a species of 

 Haasia, which is certainly a wrong disposition of it. 



NEOLITSEA Merrill 

 N EOLITSEA AM BOI N ENSIS sp. nov. 



Machilus angustifolia Rumph. Herb. Amb. 7: 60, t. 27, f. 1. 

 Amboina, between Soja and Hatalai, Robinson PL Rumph. Amb. 606 

 (type), October 24, 1913, in light forests, altitude about 350 meters. 



Arbor circiter 9 m alta, ramulis junioribus inflorescentiisque 

 pubescentibus ; foliis verticillatis vel subverticillatis, glabris, 

 oblongo-lanceolatis ad oblongo-ellipticis, usque ad 12 cm longis, 

 utrinque subaequaliter angustatis, basi acutis, vix triplinervis, 

 apice tenuiter acuminatis, nervis utrinque circiter 5, curvato- 

 adscendentibus, subtus prominentibus ; fructibus junioribus 

 ovoideis, in siccitate nigris, nitidis, circiter 6 mm diametro. 



A tree about 9 m high, the young branchlets and inflorescences 

 pubescent. Branches slender, terete, grayish, the younger ones 

 reddish-brown, smooth, glabrous, tips of the branchlets rather 

 densely appressed-pubescent. Leaves coriaceous, subverticillate 

 or verticillate at the ends of the branchlets, oblong-lanceolate 

 to oblong-elliptic, 7 to 12 cm long, 2.5 to 3.5 cm wide, subequally 

 narrowed to the acute base and to the rather slenderly and 

 sharply acuminate apex, the upper surface subolivaceous, smooth 

 and shining, the lower slightly paler, sometimes somewhat 

 glaucous, glabrous, or the midrib sometimes sparingly pubescent, 

 the base scarcely triplinerved ; lateral nerves about 5 on each 

 side of the midrib, curved-ascending, scarcely anastomosing, 

 prominent on the lower surface, the ultimate reticulations close, 

 rather indistinct; petioles more or less pubescent, 5 to 7 mm 

 long. Flowers not seen. Infructescences in the axils of fallen 

 leaves, fascicled, the pedicels and persistent calyx ferruginous- 

 villous, the pedicels rather stout, about 5 mm long. Young fruit 

 ovoid, about 6 mm in diameter, glabrous, black and shining 

 when dry. 



A species in the group with Neolitsea triplinervia (Blume) 

 (Litsea triplinervia Blume), and Neolitsea cassiaefolia (Blume) 

 Litsea cassiaefolia Blume), but the leaves not prominently tri- 

 plinerved as in these two Javan species, in fact they are strictly 

 penninerved, the lower pair being no longer than the next pair 

 above. 



The species is, with very little doubt, Machilus angustifolia 

 Rumph. Rumphius's description applies closely, but the figure 



