3 2 0 THE SPECIES OF MYEISTICA
53. Mykistica GLAUCA} Blutne Bijdr. 576 j Ruviphicij I. 182j t. 60. A tree from 25 to
70 feet higli; branches when qmte young rusty-puherulous; afterwards glabrous, darkcoloured.
Leaves thinly coriaceous, glabrous when adult, oblong-lanceolate, slightly
narrowed to the acute or shortly acuminate apex and to the cuneate or rounded
base ; upper sm-face glabrous, shining; lower whitish or pale brown, but not glaucous,
the nerves darker; main nerves 14 to 20 pairs, spreading; length 5 to 10 in., breadth
1-6 to 2'5 in.; petiole '4 to -6 in. Male flowers in umbels of 3 to G, from short axillary
tubercles; the pedicels -25 to -US in. long, with a minute semi-rotund bracteole close
to the flower; buds ovoid-globose, "2 in, in diam.; pm-ianih lobes ovate, rather blunt
ferruginous-tomentose outside like the pedicels; glabrous and striate within. Stamiml
disc glabrous, concave; the anthers 6 to 12, sessile, sub-erect; pedicel of disc long, a Httle
thickened upwards, ridged, glabrous. Female fimers umbellate like the males, but
tbo pedicels shorter and tho buds oblong, -2 in. wide when expanded; the teeth subacute,
triangular, concave, tomentose externally like the males; inside the teeth glabrous;
the tube tightly embracing the pistil. Omnj globular, densely rufous-toraentose; style
short, fleshy; stigma broad, fleshy, 2-lobed, the lobes lobulate. Fruit shortly stalked,
solitary or 2 to 5 together, ellipsoid to ovoid globose, rather pointed, densely rufoustomentose
at first, ultimately glabrous; -75 to 1-25 in. long, slightly ridged at the
suture; arillus fleshy, quite entire, and enveloping tho whole of the broadly ovoid
seed. M. Sumatrana, Bl. Rumph. i. 187; M. corticosa, JJook. fil. ^ TImns. Fl. Ind. 158
[in paTt)\ A. DO. Frod. xiv. 1, 205 {in pari)-, Miq. Fl. Ind. Bat. i, pt. 2, 69, and in
Ann. Mus. Lugd. Bat. i. 207; ii. 51 {hoth in part)-, Eurs FL B^mn. ii. 284 {in part).
M. glaucescens, H. f . Fl. Br. Ind. v. Ill, vix M.f. Th. {in part). Enema corticosa,
Lour. Fl. Coch.-Chine, ed. Willd., 742.
Tenasserim ; Gallathj. Hartaban and Pegu, Kurs. Diamond Island and Narcondam
D. Brain. Andamans; Kurz., King. Nicobars ; Kurs, King's Collectm-. Penang; Curtis
Singapore; Ridley, Cantley. Malacca; Maingay {Km. Dist.) 1280-2, Herveij. Distrib.—
Sumatra, Java.
The Burmese and Andamans' specimens, upon which the foregoing description is
founded, agree well with Blume's description and figure of M. glauca, and are
exactly like authentic specimens of M. glauca at Peradeniya, Calcutta and Leiden •
and also {fide Hook. fil. Thorn. Fl. Ind. 158) with authentic specimens of Loureiro's
Knenia corticosa. Drs. Hooker and Thomson, being at the time they wrote the Flora
Indica of the opinion that the genus Knema would ultimately have to be kept up, gave
this species the name Mgristica corticosa. In the subsequently published Flora of British
India, however. Sir Joseph Hooker writes that "the copious specimens received since the
date of the Flora Indica show that the Tenasserim and Malayan plants includod under
M. corticosa in that work are not different from M. glaucescens." The very numerous
specimens brought still more recently by the Calcutta Garden Collectors from Perak,
the Andaman Islands and elsewhere, seem to me to proYO that Sir Joseph Hooker's
earlier view is the coiTect one, and that Knema corticosa and Mgristica ghucescens
are separable by the characters given above. I have therefore followed the earlier view.
In his Rumphia (i. 187) Blume proposes the name M. Sumatrana for a plant
collected by Korthals in Sumatra and referred by that botanist to M. glauca, Bl.
This plant appears to be merely a large-leaved form of M. glauca, and is the'plant
named by Miquel (Fl. Ind. Bat. Suppl. 384) M. corticosa, Ii. f. & T., var. Sumatrana.
M. glauca, BL, var. Sumatrana, Miq., is also apparently (as specimens from the Leiden
OF BEIIISH INDIA. 3 2 1
Herbarium show) his own M. corticosa, 131., vae. lanceblata. In Blume's figure of
M. glauca {Rumphia i. t. 60) the arillus is represented as red; whereas in specimens
from Narcondam, of which the fruit was not quite ripe when collected by Dr. Prain,
the arillus was pearly white. Possibly tho red colour develops as the fruit ripens ?
Should Knema be re-established as a genus, the name of this plant would therefore
be Knema corticosa, Lour. (1793). But as a Mgristica, the name M. glauca, Blumo
(1825), takes precedence.
P l i t e 157. Myristica glauca, Blume. 1, Branch with ripe fruit (original specimen
from Buitenzorg Herbm.); 2, portion of branch with male flowers; 3, portion of
branch with female flowers ; 4, cluster of young fruit; 5, arillus covering seed—a?? of
natural size; 6, male flower; 7 & 8, staminal column and disc with anthers; 9, female
flower ; 10, ovary—enlarged.
54. Mykistica Missionis, Wall. Cat. 6788. A tree 20 to 50 feet high ; young
branches slender, dark-brown, minutely tawny-pubescent when young, ultimately glabrous
and striate. Leaves linear-lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, rarely oblanceolate, acute
or shortly acuminate, the base acute; both surfaces glabrous, the upper shining, the
lower rather pale, sub-glaucons, the midrib prominent; main nerves 13 to 14 pairs,
sub-erect, slightly prominent beneath, puberulous when young; length 3"5 to 6'5 in.,
breadth 1 to 1-5 in. (rarely ]'7d in.); petiole -4 to 5 in. Male flowers in numerous,
6 to 9-flowered fascicles on short axillary, warted tubercles; buds depressedglobose,
bluntly 3-angled, -1 in. in diam. ; perianth thick, with 3 triangular teeth,
stellate-tomentose outside, striate and glabrous inside ; pedicel -2 to '3 in. long,
tomentose like the perianth ; the bracteole above the middle, small. Staminal disc
concave, its stalk short, striate; anthers about 11, sessile, radiating. FemaU flowers larger
than the males, but in fevrer-flowered racemcs ; buds clavate ; perianth with 3 broad,
obtuse, spreading teeth ; ovary globose, rufous-silky; style short, glabrous ; stigma with
2 spreading, lobulate lobes. Frait spherical, apiculate, -5 to -6 in. in diam., silkytomentose
at first, but glabrescent with age, the slightly enlarged perianth persistent
at its base; seed globose, smooth; arillus thin, fimbriate at the apex. M. corticosa,
Book, fil cy Thorns. Fl. Ind. 158 (m part) ; A. DC. in Prod. xiv. 1, 205 ; Miq. Fl.
Ind. Bat. i. pt. 2, p. 69 {in part) ; Kurz For. Fl. Burm. ii. 284. M. glaucesccns. Hook,
fil. Fl. Br. Ind. v. Ill (m part). M. sphserula, Hook. fil. Fl. Br. Ind. t. 859.
M. lanceolata, Wall. Cat. 6794. ? M. angustifolia, Roxh. FL Ind. iii. 847.
Burmah: at Mergui, Griffith; at Yaitho, Brandis; at Rangoon, Falconer; Heifer,
{Kew Distrib. No. 4344). Penang, Curtis Nos. 700 & 935. Malacca; Ch-iffilh, Harvey,
Cantley. Selangor, Cartis. Pahang, Ridley No. 541.
The descriptions of their species given by the earlier writers on Myristica are so
incomplete, that it is very doubtful whether several of the synonyms reduced above
ought really to fall here.
P l a t e 158. Myristica Missionis, Wall 1, Branch with male flowers ; 2, branch with
female flowers ; 3, twig with ripe fruit—o/ natural sise ; 4, male perianth ; 5, andrcecium ;
6 & 7, female flowers; 8, ovary, style, and stigma—cnforyei; 9 style and stigma—
still further enlarged.
55. Myristica qibbosa. Hook. fil. Thorns. FL Ind. 158. A tree; the youngest
branches slender, at first rufous scurfy-puberulous, their bark afterwards dark'coloured.
j t i t .