Revision of Genus Alstonia — MONACHINO 
179 
Alstonia ficifolia S. Moore, in Jour. Bot. 61 
(SuppL): 32. 1923. Specimen examined. — 
type coll, Forbes 74, Sogere, New Guinea (£L; 
K). Markgraf (1927: 190) has correctly 
named the species Ochrosla ficifolia (S. Moore). 
Flowering and fruiting specimens of an 
Ochrosia deposited at the New York Botanical 
Garden, C. E. Carr 12615 and 12616, collected 
at Koitaki, Papua, belong either to this species 
or to an undescribed one bearing very close 
affinity to it (the calyces, 4 mm. broad, are 
broader than those seen in Forbes 74). Of the 
flowering material, only two buds in poor con- 
dition were available. The fruits, hitherto un- 
known for O. ficifolia, are ellipsoid, not angled, 
8 cm. long, 4 cm. in diameter, their mesocarp 
is hard- woody and of a rather uniform texture 
except for deep pits near the surface. The tree 
is noted as about 60 feet tall and as bearing 
copious latex. As further indications of the 
sometimes similar appearance of Ochrosia and 
Alstonia are two sterile specimens collected in 
Netherlands New Guinea, Seroei, Japen ( Neth . 
Ind. For. Serv. 30273 and 30288 ; A). These 
match the Koitaki plant and have been dis- 
tributed as (t Alstonia sp. nov.” 
Alstonia grandifolia Miquel, FI. Ind. Bat. 
SuppL 555. 1860. Type. — "Sumatra orient, 
in prov. Palembang (Teysmann) .” (! K, L) = 
Dyera costulata (Miquel) Hook. f. 
Alstonia longifolia (A. DC.) Pichon, in 
Paris Mus. d’Hist. Nat. Bui., II, 19: 297. 1947 = 
Tonduzia longifolia A. DC. See discussion in 
Supplement. 
Alstonia lucida D. Don, Prod. FI. Nepal. 
131. 1825. Blab er opus lucidus A. DC., Prod. 8: 
411. 1844. Type. — -"Nepalia. Hamilton. Wal- 
lich. Echites triangularis Hamilton Mss.” The 
reference to Wallich seems to be to No. 1675 
(!), ' Ichnocarpus fragrans Wall.” of the Nu- 
merical List, which is Track elospermum luci- 
dum (D. Don) K. Schum. A. lucida is placed 
under Trachelospermum by Hooker, Woodson, 
Tsiang, and others. 
Alstonia micrantha Ridley, Jour. As. Soc. 
Straits 79: 95. 1918. Type.-— "Selangor; Ran- 
tau Panjang ( Kloss ).” (! K)=Chilo carpus, 
possibly C. embelioides King & Gamble (ex 
descrip. ) . 
Alstonia polyphylla Miquel, FI. Ind. Bat. 
SuppL 556. 1860. Type. — "Bangka (Teys- 
mann) .”=? Dyera Lowii Hook, f, (1882). 
Alstonia Schumanniana Schlechter, in Bot. 
Jahrb. 39: 236. 1906.- — descrip; Pflanzen- 
geograph. Glied. Insel Neu-Caled. 37. 1904. — 
nom. nud. Type. — "Bei Oubatche. 15442 ” 
Schlechter, New Caledonia. (! G, K, L) = 
Rauvolfia . 
Alstonia theaeformis Li =Symplocos (see 
discussion under Alstonia). 
"Alstonia sp. nov.” Schlechter, in Bot. Jahrb. 
39: 236. 1906. Schlechter 15651 (New Cale- 
donia, "Bergen bei Ou-Hinna”; BM, K). Not 
Alstonia : apparently Rubiaceae. Not adequate 
for specific identification without comparative 
material. Suggests description of the monotypic 
genus Merismo stigma S. Moore (1921: 332). 
SUPPLEMENT 
While my manuscript was in the editors 
hands, M. Pichon’s recent (1947) treatise on 
Alstonia became available to me. Except for 
inserts in the synonymy citations in my origi- 
nal manuscript, the matter in this excellent 
paper was not treated. A very brief account of 
the important features in Pichon’s article will 
be given here. 
The most interesting discovery made by M. 
Pichon is the close similarity between Alstonia, 
which had hitherto been given exclusively an 
Old World distribution-range, and the New 
World Tonduzia Pittier (Central America and 
southern Mexico). Can it be that Alstonia, 
which in the Pacific is known as far east as the 
Marquesas and which extends as far west as 
Sierra Leone in Africa, has bridged the remain- 
ing oceanic areas and encircles the entire earth? 
Pichon gives Tonduzia a sectional status next 
to § Pala. In Tonduzia the leaves are usually 
