DILLENIACEAE 



367 



rounded, about 6 mm long, their margins minutely ciliate. Car- 

 pels 2 or 3, narrowly ovoid, densely hirsute, the styles glabrous. 

 Follicles 1 or 2, sometimes 3, narrowly oblong-ovate, acuminate, 

 8 to 10 mm long, pale olivaceous when dry, shining, with few, 

 scattered, subappressed, rather long, stiff hairs, when fresh 

 violet, turning brownish. Seeds solitary, broadly ovate, 2 to 

 2.5 mm long, the aril pale, membranaceous, loose, obovate, 

 rounded, 3 mm long, entire or obscurely toothed, not lacerate. 



This species is dedicated to Doctor J. G. Boerlage, who con- 

 tracted a fever, while carrying on a botanical exploration of 

 Amboina, which resulted in his death. It is manifestly allied to 

 Tetracera indica Merr. (T. assa DC), from which it differs 

 in its smaller sepals and follicles, the latter being prominently 

 acuminate and sparingly hirsute. From the only other endemic 

 Amboina species, Tetracera moluccana Martelli, it differs in its 

 much shorter petioles and smaller fewer-nerved leaves. While 

 Rumphius's description is short and largely comparative with 

 Funis urens asp era, the specimen cited above agrees with it in 

 all particulars, and I consider it certainly to represent the Rumph- 

 ian plant. 



Ay-assa Rumph. Herb. Amb. 7 : 20 has erroneously been referred 

 by some authors to Tetracera assa DC, but the plant that Rumph- 

 ius describes presents little in common with Tetracera and is 

 certainly not referable to this genus. Christmann and Panzer, 

 Pflanzensyst. 4 (1779) 40, t. 26, f. 1, after Houttuyn, Nat. Hist. 

 Plantenk. 5 (1776) 275, referred the Rumphian plant to Assa 

 indica Christm. & Panz., but the description was manifestly based 

 on an actual specimen. The generic name was apparently taken 

 from Rumphius, and de Candolle, Syst. 1 (1818) 402, selected 

 assa as the specific name under Tetracera. The synonymy should 

 be adjusted, for Assa indica presents the oldest valid name: 

 Tetracera indica (Christm. & Panz.) comb. nov. (Assa indica 

 Christm. & Panz. Pflanzensyst. 4 (1779) 40, t. 26, f. 1; Tetracera 

 assa DC Syst. 1 (1818) 402). 



DILLENIA Linnaeus 



DILLENIA ELLIPTICA Thunb. in Trans. Linn. Soc. 1 (1791) 200 (type!). 

 Song i urn Rumph. Herb. Amb. 2: 140, t. 45. 



No representative of this species occurs in our Amboina col- 

 lections. Dillenia elliptica Thunb. was based wholly on the 

 Rumphian figure and description. Martelli, in Beccari Malesia 3 

 (1887) 161, has redescribed Dillenia elliptica Thunb. from speci- 

 mens collected in Celebes by Beccari, and doubtless this interpre- 



