366 



RUMPHIUS'S HERBARIUM AMBOINENSE 



yet Funis urens asp era Rumph. is unmistakably a Tetracera 

 and apparently the form described by de Candolle as Tetracera 

 hebecarpa, which some authors reduce to Tetracera sarmentosa 

 Linn., and others treat as a variety of the latter species. The 

 Rumphian figure and description are the whole basis of Tragia 

 scandens Linn., a species that -is not included in Index Kewensis. 

 Linnaeus later, Sp. PI. ed. 2 (1763) 1390, referred Funis urens 

 Rumph. to Tragia volubilis Linn., in which he was followed by 

 Burman f., Poiret, and Henschel. Baillon, Etud. Gen. Euphorb. 

 (1858) 461, 463, referred it to Tragia hirsuta Blume. The 

 description, and for that matter the figure also, is unmistakably 

 Tetracera and has nothing to do with the euphorbiaceous genus 

 Tragia. 



TETRACERA BOERLAGEI sp. nov. 



Funis urens glabra Rumph. Herb. Amb. 5: 13. 

 Amboina, Batoe gadjah, Robinson PL Rumph. Amb. 485 (type), August 

 5, 1913, on trees at an altitude of about 200 meters. 



Frutex scandens, ramulis junioribus adpresse hirsutis; foliis 

 oblongis ad oblongo-ellipticis, coriaceis, nitidis, usque ad 11 cm 

 longis, glabris vel minutissime scaberulis, integris vel obscu- 

 rissime undulatis, basi rotundatis ad subacutis, apice acutis 

 ad obtusis, nervis utrinque 10 ad 12; inflorescentiis anguste 

 pyramidatis, leviter hirsutis; sepalis interioribus obovatis, ro- 

 tundatis, 6 mm longis, carpellis 2 vel 3, dense hirsutis ; f olliculis 

 1 vel 2, rariter 3, oblongo-ovoideis, acuminatis, 8 ad 10 mm longis, 

 parcissime hirsutis, in siccitate pallide olivaceis nitidisque, se- 

 minibus solitariis. 



A scandent shrub, nearly glabrous except the very young 

 branchlets and the inflorescence. Branches glabrous, reddish- 

 brown, twisted, slender, tips of the young branchlets sparingly 

 appressed-hirsute. Leaves oblong to oblong-elliptic, coriaceous, 

 brittle, glabrous on both surfaces or very minutely and 

 slightly scaberulous, in young leaves the midrib on the lower 

 surface very slightly appressed-hirsute, 6 to 11 cm long, 2.5 

 to 5.5 cm wide, rather pale or brownish when dry, shining, 

 base rounded to subacute, apex acute to obtuse, margins entire 

 or very obscurely undulate; lateral nerves 10 to 12 on each side 

 of the midrib, prominent, brown; petioles 1 cm long or less. 

 Panicles terminal, narrowly pyramidal, up to 12 cm in length, 

 sparingly hirsute with scattered, subappressed hairs, the 

 branches few, distant, the lower ones 2 cm long or less. Fruiting 

 calyx with five sepals, the outer ones broadly ovate, slightly 

 hirsute, about 3 mm long, the inner two or three obovate, 



