Revision of Genus Alstonia — MONACHINO 
137 
later A. Reineckeana is not truly synonymous 
with this. Aside from the nomenclatural diffi- 
culties, there is suspicion of the criteria em- 
ployed by me for taxonomic evaluation of 
morphological characters observed in the 
baffling plumosa-costata species complex. Only 
photographs of A. Comptonii and A. saligna 
were examined. The fruits of A. quaternata 
were not available, and since the plant is unique 
in several features there is uncertainty about 
its sectional, and possibly its generic, status. 
Genus ALSTONIA Brown 
Alstonia R. Br., in Mem. Wern. Soc. 1: 75. 
1811 (nom. conserv.). Non Scop., Introd. 
Hist. Nat. 198. 1777; non Mutis ex L. £, 
Suppl. 39. 1781. 
Pala Adr. Juss., in Ann. Mus. Paris 15: 
346. 1810. 
Blab er opus A. DC., Prod. 8: 410. 1844. 
Winchia A. DC, Prod. 8: 326. 1844. 
Amblyocalyx Benth., in Benth. and Hook., 
Gen. PI. 2: 698. 1876. 
Paladelpha Pichon, in Paris Mus. d’Hist. 
Nat, Bui. II, 19: 299. 1947. 
Laticiferous trees or shrubs. Leaves verticil- 
late or opposite, penninerved, the lateral nerves 
(principal secondaries) varying from very 
numerous and close to few and distant, 1-30 
mm. apart (the average distance apart near 
middle of blade). Calyx without glands, the 
tube very short, the lobes 5; inflorescences ap- 
parently terminal, the primary peduncles usually 
several, more or less branched, the flowers 
cymose, white to yellow or red; corolla tube 
cylindric, slightly inflated at region of anthers, 
thickened at throat, pubescent within below 
stamens and more sparsely so or glabrous above, 
or densely barbate at throat in § Blaberopus; 
corolla lobes spreading at maturity, more or less 
barbate at base within; anthers on short but 
distinct filaments, dehiscent their entire lengths 
or only for the greater part (spp. in § Pala), 
without appendages; ovary apocarpous or syn- 
carpous in § Winchia (? A. quaternata) , super- 
ior or partly inferior, ovules numerous, in many 
ranks or rarely in two or three ranks in each 
cell; style long and filiform to very short, gla- 
brous; stigma reaching up to anthers, the stigma- 
apiculi short, papillose, the clavuncle cylindric, 
often variably penicillate above, membranous 
indusiate above and tunicate below; follicles 
separate or united into a single capsule ( § 
Winchia ), rather slender, lightly striate out- 
side. Seeds numerous, very light, thin and flat- 
tened, ciliate, the surface minutely foveolate, 
the placental scar at about middle, the embryo 
about length of seed-body, the cotyledons about 
length of radicle, broadly elliptic to narrowly 
oblong or linear. 
Type species.— -A. scholaris (L. ) R. Br. 
Alstonia R. Br. versus the two earlier ho- 
monyms by Mutis ex L. f. and Scopoli was pro- 
posed for conservation by Rehder (1935: 352) 
and conserved by the 6th International Botani- 
cal Congress, Amsterdam (1935). 
Alstonia Scop, was based on Pacouria Aubl., 
a name now rejected in favor of Landolphia 
Beauv. 
Alstonia Mutis ex L. f. is typified by A. 
theaeformis. The species was transferred to 
Symplocos by Giirke, and this disposition is ac- 
cepted by Brand (1901: 81) in his monograph 
of the Symplocaceae. 
Pala, rejected in favor of Alstonia, was based 
on "Pala” Rheede (1678: 81, t. 45), which is 
A. scholaris. It was published without a specific 
name and has never been adopted as a genus by 
any other author. The citation was followed 
by a very brief description but the identity of 
Pala with Alstonia is unquestionable. There is 
some doubt, however, whether Jussieu intended 
formally to propose Pala as a genus or wished 
merely to note that the plant designated as 
"Pala” by Rheede in 1678 should merit generic 
distinction. 
Of the five sections in Alstonia, Blaberopus 
has most to recommend it for recognition as a 
distinct genus but is here considered fairly well 
within the generic latitude of Alstonia. A. Gray 
