X, C, 5 
Merrill: Philippine Plants, XII 
295 
tendrils slender, up to 15 cm in length. Inflorescence axillary, 
solitary, consisting of a single umbel, the floral branch less than 
1.5 cm long, subtended by a coriaceous, ovate, acuminate bract 
about 8 mm in length which is split down the back, the floral 
branch bearing at its apex a very much reduced or sometimes 
aborted bud, and opposite to it a single oblong, obtuse, or retuse 
and apiculate bract about 5 mm in length, this bract subtending 
the solitary, slender, 4 cm long peduncle. Male flowers 40 to 50 
in each umbel, their pedicels about 8 mm long, the subtending 
bracteoles ovate, 2 mm long or less. Sepals about 5 mm long, 
1.5 mm wide, recurved, obtuse, cucullate. Petals as long as the 
sepals, 0.5 mm wide. Stamens 6, all fertile, their filaments 
about 3.5 mm long, the anthers 1.5 mm long. Female flowers 
and fruits not known. 
Luzon, Province of Rizal, Angilog, Loher 6986, April 15, 1906. 
A characteristic species, distinguishable by its short-petioled, thickly 
coriaceous, broadly ovate leaves which are abruptly acuminate and apic- 
ulate, the base very broad, cordate, and 5-nerved, the lower surface 
glaucous. Among the Philippine species it is probably most closely allied 
to Smilax bracteata Presl, but that species has an entirely different inflores- 
cence and different leaves. 
SMILAX LUZONENSIS Presl Rel. Haenk. 1 (1827) 131; Miq. FI. Ind. 
Bat. 3 (1859) 566. 
Luzon, Haenlce (type in herb. Prag.). Mindanao, Lake Lanao, Camp 
Keithley, Mrs. Clemens 835, 905 bis, s. n. 
This species was described by Presl from a sterile specimen, no flowers 
or fruits being known. I have seen the type in the Prague Herbarium, and 
it seems to be matched by the specimens cited above, two of which are with 
male flowers, the other with very immature fruits. The specimens agree 
with Presl’s description, so far as it goes, and with a carbon rubbing of 
typical leaves of the type, preserved in the herbarium of the Bureau of 
Science. 
C. DeCandolle 3 reduces Smilax luzonensis Presl (1827), with doubt, to 
Smilax helferi C. DC. While the two species may be identical, Presl’s 
specific name has a priority by many years, and should be adopted, at least 
for the Philippine form. Only by a careful comparison between Philippine 
specimens of Smilax luzonensis Presl, and authentic specimens of S. helferi 
C. DC., will it be possible to determine whether one or two species are 
represented. 
Smilax luzonensis Presl has solitary male umbels which are 2 to 2.5 cm 
in diameter, each with from 20 to 30 flowers, the peduncles slender, axillary, 
2.5 to 3 cm long, bracteate at the base, and with a small ovate bracteole 
at the lower one-fourth or below. The pedicels are about 8 mm long; 
the sepals are narrowly oblong, obtuse, 6 mm long, the petals as long as the 
sepals but much narrower. Anthers about one-fifth as long as the filaments. 
Female flowers and mature fruits unknown. 
Monog. Phan. 1 (1878) 176. 
