284 
XXIV. STERCULIACE^E. 
[Pentapetes. 
10 . PENTAPETES, L. 
Herb. Leaves hastate-lanceolate. Flowers axillary. Bracts 
3, subulate. Sepals 5, lanceolate, connate at base. Petals 5, 
bright red. Stamens 20, connate at base, 15 fertile in 5 groups 
of 3, alternating with 5 staminodes, nearly as long as the petals; 
anthers 2-celled, extrorse. Ovary sessile, 5-celled; cells many, 
ovuled; style entire, twisted and thickened upwards, 5 minute 
stigmas. Capsule 5-valved. Seeds 8 to 12 bi-seriate in each cell; 
not winged. Species x, tropical Asia. 
(1) P. phoenicea Linn. Sp. PI. 698; Masters, in Hook. fit. F.B.I. 
i. 371. 
An annual 2 to 4 ft. tall sparsely hairy or glabrescent. Leaves 
3 to 5 in. long, narrow, -25 to 5 in. wide, serrate acuminate, base 
truncate or hastate; nerves 20 pairs; petioles -25 to -5 in. long; 
pedicels *25 in. long, bristly hairy as is the calyx, *3 in. long, lobes 
lanceolate acute. Petals obovate rounded '5 in. long. Staminodes 
sub-spathulate. Ovary bristly. Capsule oblong truncate, -5 in. 
long, bristly, shorter than the enlarged sepals. Hab. Perlis, fields 
at Kanga, certainly wild. Distrib. India, China, Java, Philippines. 
Often cultivated for its beautiful but fugacious flowers, and occasionally 
occurring as an escape elsewhere. For one or two years it thus established 
itself by the Tanglin post office in Singapore. 
11 . MELOCHIA, L. 
Herbs or shrubs, more or less tomentose. Leaves simple. 
Flowers in clusters or panicles. Sepals 5, connate below. Petals 5, 
obovate clawed. Stamens 5, opposite the petals, connate below 
in a tube. Ovary sessile, 5-celled, cells 2-ovuled; styles 5, free 
or connate at base. Capsule loculicidally 5-valved. Species about 
50, tropics generally. 
Wiry herb; flowers in terminal and axillary heads . (1) M. corchorifolia 
Shrub or treelet; cymes large, lax panicled . . (2) M. velutina 
(1) M. corchorifolia Linn. Sp. PI. 675; Masters, l.c. i. 374; 
King, l.c. 87. 
A slender pubescent shrubby plant about 2 ft. tall with tough 
bark. Leaves membranous ovate to lanceolate or oblong acute, 
serrate or lobed, base rounded, truncate or sub-hastate, 5-nerved, 
1*5 to 2-5 in. long, - 5 to 1 in. wide; petioles -4 to 1 in. long. Flowers 
•2 in. across, in dense terminal heads with many villous bracts 
intermixed. Sepals lanceolate acuminate. Petals obovate, pink 
with a yellow base. Stamens opposite the petals, connate below 
in a tube. Ovary villous; styles glabrous. Capsule globose, 
brown, pubescent, longer than the calyx. Hab. Common in waste 
ground all over the peninsula. Distrib. Tropics generally. Native 
name: Lumah Ketam. 
