VIII, c, 6 Merrill: Philippine Melastomataceae, II 353 
nent, rather distant, nearly straight or somewhat curved ; 
petioles 1 to 1.5 cm long, glabrous or nearly so. Panicles ter- 
minal, pyramidal, branched from the base or peduncled, 7 to 9 
cm long, many-flowered, the rachis and branches glabrous or 
nearly so, the branches few. Male flowers yellowish, somewhat 
crowded at the ends of the branchlets, 5-merous, their pedicels 
up to 2 mm long. Calyx cup-shaped, 2 mm in diameter, obscurely 
5-toothed, outside rather densely pale-lepidote. Petals very 
broadly ovate to ovate-orbicular, about 1.3 mm long, rounded, 
base with a very short, broad claw. Stamens 10, short. Ovary 
entirely wanting. 
Luzon, Province of Laguna, Mount Maquiling, Loher 6270, April, 1906 
(type). Bur. Sci. 17325 Robinson & Brown (Batangas side), February 24, 
1913, in forests, altitude about 870 meters above sea level. 
Well characterized by its 3-plinerved leaves which are green above and 
pale-gray beneath, and by its nearly glabrous panicles. Its closest ally is 
Astronia bicolor Merr., which, however, has distinctly lepidote branchlets, 
petioles, and panicles, and nearly glabrous or only slightly lepidote calyces. 
23. ASTRONIA CUMINGIANA Vid. Phan. Cuming. Philip. (1885) 114, 174 ; 
Cogn. in DC. Monog. Phan. 7 (1891) 1098. 
Luzon, Province of Cagayan, Bur. Sci. 13996 Ramos, For. Bur. lJt812 
Darling: Subprovince of Abra, Bur. Sci. 7101 Ramos: Subprovince of Ben- 
guet. Bur. Sci. 12705 Fenix, Williams 1556, Elmer 6055, 6011: Province of 
Nueva Vizcaya, Bur. Sci. 1137U, 20168 McGregor: Province of Zambales, 
Loher 6290: Province of Rizal, Merrill 1651, Bur. Sci. 1750 Ramos, For. Bur. 
2163 Ahern's collector: Province of Laguna, Loher 6252, Bur. Sci. 20565 
Ra7nos, Malvar 31^5: Province of Albay, Ahern 8il. Mindoro, For. Bur. 
9765 Merritt. Mindanao, District of Lanao, Mrs. Clemens 356, s. n.; 
Province of Surigao, Ahern 322, 517. Basilan, Bur. Sci. 16181 Reillo, For. 
Bur. 1892^ Miranda. 
This species, as here interpreted, is the most common and widely dis- 
tributed one in the Philippines, extending from northern Luzon to Basilan; 
it has also been reported from northeastern Celebes by Reorders. The 
type is Cunning 999 from the Province of Pangasinan, Luzon, of which 
there is a mere fragment in the herbarium of the Bureau of Science. In 
describing the species Vidal also referred here Nos. SJtS, 6ii, and 1387 of 
his own collection, the first two from Rizal Province, the last from Lepanto 
Subprovince. Among the specimens referred here some are distinctly 
3-nerved, agreeing with the type number, Cuming 999, while others are 
as distinctly 3-plinerved, agreeing with the specimens of Vidal’s own collec- 
tion cited by him; it should be noted that in the original description of 
the species that it is described as having 3-plinerved leaves. From an 
examination of our large series of specinjens it is evident that the 3-nerved 
and 3-plinerved forms referred here represent but a single species in spite 
of the differences in the extreme cases as to the disposition of the nerves. 
The vegetative characters otherwise, the indumentum generally, the in- 
florescences, and the flowers are fairly uniform in all the specimens. In 
