36 



Descriptions of Malayan Plants, 



XIII. ERICINE^. 



RHODODENDRON MALAY ANUM. ( W, J.) 



Foliis oblongis glabris punctatis, floribus terminalibus, pe- 

 dicellis cernuis, corolla punctata basi gibba. 



Observed on the summit of the Sugar-loaf Mountain in the 

 interior of Bencoolen. Summit of Mount Ophir ? 



This is a large shrub or small tree much branched. Bark 

 brown and spotted. Leaves alternate or scattered, short 

 petioled, lanceolate-hnear, 2J — 3 inches long, attenuated to 

 both ends, somewhat bluntish at the point, entire, smooth, 

 thickly sprinkled beneath with brown dots and green above 

 with depressed points ; the middle nerve is strong, the late- 

 ral ones scarce any. Stipules none. Flowers from a short 

 terminal bud^ which is at first closely invested by numerous 

 imbricated broad bracts, which successively fall off and at 

 length leave the short thick peduncle annulated by their 

 cicatrices. It throws out near the point several nodding one- 

 flowered pedicels, which are dotted in the same manner as 

 the leaves. Calyx very small, five-toothed. Corolla crim- 

 son, tubular, expanding into a five-lobed limb, sprinkled 

 with callous dots, tube gibbous at the base and marked with 

 five furrows. Stamina ten, leaning to one side, inserted on 

 the very base of the corol and about as long as its limb ; 

 filaments red ; anthers yellow, opening at top by two oblique 

 pores. Style a little shorter than the stamina. Stigma a 

 round head marked with five indistinct rays. Ovary supe- 

 rior, oblong, five-sided, covered with brown spots, five-celled 

 polysporous. 



Obs, — I found this and the preceding species of Vaccinium 

 on the very summit of Gunong Bunko, a remarkable insulat- 

 ed mountain in the interior of Bencoolen, commonly called 

 by Europeans the Sugar-loaf, in reference to its shape. Its 

 elevation is not estimated to exceed three thousand feet, yet 

 the character of its vegetation is decidedly alpine. This 



