Page:Illustrations of Indian Botany, Vol. 1.djvu/47

Rh was, I now think rather unfortunately, introduced, merely as an example of the fruit of the genus. To prevent confusion however, I shall in a future number, publish a figure of an entire specimen, such as I found them.

The following synopsis of Indian species of Michelia, arranged on the principles above explained, though probably far from correct, is offered, in the hope that it may prove useful to those who may have opportunities of examining recent specimens, by directing attention to those points whence it seems probable, good characters may be derived, and thereby enable them to draw up such descriptions as will furnish botanists with the materials required to define, with precision, the species of this hitherto most difficult genus. The want of specimens or figures of the Eastern forms, prevents my attempting to introduce any of them.

§ 1. One bractial and one calycine spathe.

A. Petals numerous, (12-15) in a ternary or quinary order.

1. M. Champaca, Leaves ovate, oblong, much acuminated, acute at the base, the midrib beneath, petiols, peduncles and spathes, silky —Blume.

Leaves lanciolate, glabrous — D. C.

Leaves lanciolate — Lin. Willd. Persoon.

Such are the brief and vague characters assigned to this species; hence it is not to be wondered at, that the habitation allowed is equally vague and unlimited; namely, the whole of India and the Eastern Archipelago. As synonyms, DeCandolle quotes Rumphius, Herb. Amboynense 2— tab. 67, and Rheede Hort. Mai. 1 tab. 19; which, judging from the figures and the descriptions are, I think, different plants.

According to Rumphius's figure, the leaves are ovate lanciolate, tapering to a slender point, and are described as "being a span long, and two inches broad," (agreeing so far with Blume's character) the flowers have 15 petals, ranged in three rows, or in a quinary order, the five exterior ones smaller than the middle row, while the interior are much smaller than either; and lastly, the stamens are described as numerous, short and thick, bearing roundish anthers ; apeculiarity, which at once separates it from all continental Indian species. Rheede's description is less explicit, but still such as to afford good grounds for separating his from the Amboyna plant. The leaves, according to the figure, are elliptic, much acuminated, and attenuated at the base, until they imperceptibly pass into the petiol. The petals are said to be in verticels of eight, indicating a quaternery order, (thus associating it with Wallich's M. excelsa) the inner row passing into stamens; which are said to be cuspidate, as in the other Indian species. The fruit are differently represented by each, but by neither well; but Rheede describes the ovaries of his plant as terminating in a circular scutelliform point; a very unusual appearance in the genus, but which, I have ascertained to exist in the ovaries of the fruit represented in my plate, and from which I infer that that spike presents a correct figure of the fruit of Rheede's plant. This therefore I propose separating from Rumphius' plant as a new and distinct species, to be afterwards defined in its, presumed, proper place, under the name of M. Rheedii. Whether Blume and Rumphius describe the same plant, I leave to eastern botanists to determine, as I have seen neither.

2. M. Doltsopa. (Wall. Tent. PI. Nep.) Leaves elliptic-oblong, much acuminated, slightly pubescent beneath, long petioled : stipules and spathes clothed with rusty coloured pubescence : petals 15, arranged in quinary verticels, sub-pubescent, mixed with minute spofsatthe base: styles short, recurved, very papillose. Woods of the valleys and lower hills of Nepal — Wall. The fruit is neither described nor figured.

I have adopted Wallich's figure and description in this and the following, for the type of these species, as he seems to have no doubt of the identity of his plants, and those of Buchanan Hamilton, and DeCandolle.

3. M. Kisopa. (Wall. 1. c.) Leaves ovate, lanciolate, acuminated, coriacious, glabrous: stipules and spathes villous, whitish, the last very obtuse : petals 12 (ternary ?) nearly equal, acute: ovaries villous: styles longish, recurved : carpels remote, smooth, sub-globose, contracted at the base as if pedicelled, not verrucose, three or four seeded : seeds enclosed in red pulp.

Found in many of the woods of Nepal—Wall.

The rachis of trie fruit is represented as branched : this must surely be a very unusual occurrence, yet it is not alluded to in the description, which merely mentions the spike as being tortuous. It is perhaps attributable to an error of the draughtsman, who has taken that method of representing a tortuous spike. The carpels of this species are too smooth, and free from warty inequalities on their surface, to admit of this being associated with my M. Rheedii.

4. M. aurantiaca (Wall. Plant. Asiat. Rar. 2. 39 tab. 147 ) Young shoots, petiols, and peduncles, hairy : leaves ovate, oblong, ending in a long attenuated acumen, acute at the base, pubescent beneith : stipules and spathes, clothed with greenish brown pubescence : petals numerous (20) in a quinary order, (orange coloured) stamens numerous, sessile, much shorter than the column of fructification: ovaries densely congested, ovate: styles recurved : ovules— fruit' —

Pegu near Rangoon, flowering in September — Wall.

5. M. Walkerii. Young shoots villous, leaves elliptic, lanciolate, acuminated, acute at the base, glabrous, except the young ones which are clothed beneath with silky pubescence : stipules and spathes silky : petals about 12, narrow, lanciolate, pointed : stamens numerous, mucronate, equalling or exceeding the colums of fructification, half the length of the petals : ovaries 2 ovuled : carpels globose, one seeded, slightly warted.

Ceylon in woods, Nuera Ellia, flowering in March and April. First communicated by Colonel Walker, and afterwards gathered by myself.

A large shrub or small tree, the smaller leaves towards the ends of the branches, narrow, lanciolate, the larger ones elliptic, oblong, coriacious, 21 to 3 inches long, and one broad, short petioled.

B. "Petals feio (6-91 in a ternary order.

6. M. ovalifolia. (R. W.) Glabrous, leaves elliptic, broader towards the point, abruptly and shortly acuminated, acute, passing imperceptibly into the petiol, at the base : stipules and spathes clothed with stiff short appressed shining hairs: petals 6, spreading, obovate, obtuse : stamens numerous, nearly sessile, mucronate, shorter than the column of fructification ; ovaries few, three ovuled, style curved at the point, equalling the ovaries: fruit—