57 
Flora of the Malayan Peninsula. 
3. Pentaphragma Ridleyi, n. sp., King & Gamble. A fleshy 
herbaceous plant, 10 to 12 in. in height ; stem -25 in. thick, smooth, at 
first creeping afterwards erect. Leaves ovate, equal-sided, bluntly 
acute at apex, euneate at base, 6 to 8 in. long, 3-5 to 4'5 in. broad, 
glabrous on both surfaces, entire or only very minutely dentate on the 
margin ; midrib broad, main-nerves 4-5 pairs nearly straight, slanting 
upwards; petiole 1 in. long. Inflorescence a short, 1 to 1-5 in. long, 
nearly sessile spike, with 2-ranked flowers between ovate-spathulate 
usually 3-nerved glabrous pale bracts; each flower with a '15 in. 
long, linear-spathulate, 1-nerved bracteole, ciliate at tip ; flowers small, 
•2 to - 25 in. long, Calyx-tube adnate to the ovary ; lobes 4-5, equal or 
unequal in size, usually -1 in. long, 3-nerved, the nerves arching. 
Corolla-tube short, lobes 4-5, linear-oblong, emarginate, recurved, 
glabrous without, minutely pubescent within, white spotted at base 
with purple, nerves 3. Stamens adnate at base to the corolla-tube, 
•05 to '07 in. long, anthers club-shaped, filaments dilated below. Ovary 
turbinate, 3-celled ; ovules many on axile placentas ; stigma rounded, 
3-5-lobed, on a very short conical style. Fruit a berry, conical at top, 
apparently indehiscent ; seeds rather few and large ; testa beautifully 
reticulate. 
Singapore : Ridley 103.— In damp ravines at Bukit Timah (Herb. 
Kew). 
4. Sphenoclea, Gaertn. 
An annual erect glabrous herb, of marshy places. Leaves alternate, 
lanceolate, entire. Flowers in dense cylindric terminal or leaf-opposed 
peduncled spikes ; very small, sessile, each with one bract and two 
bracteoles. Calyx-tube adnate to the ovary, turbinate or hemispherical; 
lobes 5, sub-foliaceous. Corolla campanulate, 5-lobed, valvate. Stamens 
5, inserted on the base of the corolla ; filaments shortly dilated ; anthers 
short, free. Ovary semi-inferior, 2-celled ; placentas axile, bearing 
many ovules ; style short, stigma obscurely 2-lobed. Capsule semi- 
inferior, depresso-globose, circumsciss at the margin of the calyx-tube, 
the crown and calyx-lobes deciduous. Seeds very numerous, minute, 
oblong. A single species. 
Sphenoclea zeylanica, Gaertn. Fruct. I. 113, t. 24, fig. 5. An 
erect annual herb, 1 to 2 feet high. Leaves alternate, lanceolate, 
narrowed at both ends, 2 to 3 in. long, '25 to 1 in. broad, entire, sessile 
or shortly petioled, smooth, midrib and main-nerves faint. Flowers in 
dense, cylindric, terminal or leaf-opposed, peduncled spikes ; peduncles 
•5 to 1 in. long ; spikes '5 to 1-5 in., bract and bracteoles very small. 
Calyx-tube adnate to the ovary,, turbinate or hemispherical, lobes 5, 
ovate, -05 to - 06 in. long, somewhat enlarged in fruit and indexed over 
