344 Descriptions of Malayan Plants. 



Found under moist rocks on Pulo Penang, West coast of 

 Sumatra. 



Repent with a thick knotty root. Leaves aUernate, petio- 

 late, cordate, sometimes unequally, large and broad, often 

 six or seven inches long, angulate, sometimes with five acute 

 lobes, sometimes nearly ovate, acuminate, dentato-serrate, 

 edges recurved, very smooth, 5 — 7 nerved, finely punctate, 

 the dots appearing elevated on the upper surface and de- 

 pressed on the lower. Petioles 4 — 6 inches long, nearly 

 smooth, furnished immediately below their junction with the 

 leaf with a semiverticil of linear, acute appendices or scales. 

 Stipules large, ovate, rather laciniate towards the apex, one 

 on each side of the petiole. Peduncles axillary, erect, 6 — 8 

 inches long, red, very smooth, terminated by a dichotomous 

 divaricate panicle of white flowers tinged with red. Bracts 

 roundish. MALE, Perianth four-leaved, leaflets rather 

 thick and fleshy, the two outer ones much larger and subro- 

 tund, before expansion completely enclosing the inner two, 

 and having their edges mutually applied to each other in 

 such a manner that they form an acute carina round the 

 unexpanded flower. Stamina numerous in a roundish head ; 

 filaments short, inserted on a central column, which rises 

 from the base of the flower. Anthers oblong, cells adnate 

 to the sides of the filaments, bursting longitudinally. FE- 

 MALE. Capsules with three equal obtusely angled wings, 

 three-celled, three-valved, valves septiferous in the middle, 

 sutures corresponding to the wings. Seeds numerous, at- 

 tached to placentae which project from the inner angle of 

 the cells. 



Obs. — The serratures are hard and cartilaginous and re- 

 curved in such a manner along with the margin of the leaf, 

 that when only observed on the upper surface, their place is 

 perceived by an indentation. It seems to resemble the B. 

 grandis, Dryand : which differs however in having oblique, 

 doubly serrated leaves, and purple flowers. 



