343 
short, the deep red anthers almost sessile. The ovary is large for 
the size of the flower, bright green, of 4 or 5 lobes, with 4 or 5 
recurved linear green styles. Of the 4 or 5 lobes of the ovary one, 
two or three develop into black drupes, elliptic in outline and about 
\ inch long. They hate a little greenish almost tasteless flesh 
round the single seed which has a thin brittle coat covering the 
exceedingly bitter embryo. The taste is much the same as that of 
quinine or of the bark of the allied plant Eurycoma longifolia , the 
Bidara Pahit of the Malay Peninsula. 
The plant occurs in Pahang, Malacca, Sungei Ujong and Se- 
langor, and probably in suitable places all over the Peninsula. It 
was collected by WALLICH iti Singapore when the island was first 
occupied in 1822, but seems to have quite disappeared, probably 
on account of clearing and building on the south coast of the island, 
where Wallich collected many of his plants, and which was then 
probably a suitable locality for it. In 1891 I brought seed from 
Pahang and planted it in the Botanic Bardens. From these plants 
the species has spread all over the TangHn district in waste open 
ground, the birds having carried and distributed the seeds around 
the gardens, so that it has become quite abundant again. 
It has also been collected in Tenasserim, Siam and all the larger 
Malay islands as far as Philippines, in South China and Australia. 
Ihe plant is usually to -be found in flat open country, never in 
forest, in rather sandy and dry spots, and flowers and fruits all the 
year round. It is propagated by seed and it appears that the seed 
should be dried before planting and sprinkled on the ground, not 
buried. Attempts to propagate it by cuttings have not been very 
successful, as even after the cuttings have sprouted the plants are 
apt to damp off. In long grass it is apt to grow weak and slender 
and should then be pruned back so as to cause it to branch and 
become bushy. 
The plant is known to the Malays as Cherek Jantan, Sisik Ma- 
nik, Malau or Kmbalau Padang, and Malau Betina, Sarai Pusur, 
Sejarat, Ampadu Bruang. 
Sumatran, — Malur, Tambar bui, Tambar Sipogo ; Javanese — 
Kualut, Wonglot, Katilang, Ketileng; Sundanese — -Kandong Pen- 
chang; Jacatra — Kemon jenjeny; Moluccas — Lusa or Nusa Rajah, 
Kayu Nagas ; Celebes — Tanbara Maritja; Banka — Beliliek ; 
China — Kosam. 
• Uses. 
RuMPHIYS gives a good figure and an account of the plant in 
the Herbarium Amboinense Vol. VII p. 29, Plate XY, and recom- 
mends the use of the root as an antidote to poison or bad food. 
House I ELD Verb. Bat. Gen. Dl. VII. recommends an infusion for 
debility of the stomach and diarhcea, and as a tonic. An account 
and figure of the plant is given by GreSHOFF (Nuttige Indische 
Planten ii. p. 71.) He states that the seeds are well known in 
Europe under the name of Macassar kernels and quotes from 
N. P. van der Stok in Gen. Tijsch. v. Ned. lnd. XVI, 370, as to 
its use in dysentery, and from Dr. C. L, VAN DER BURG (de Gen- 
