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89
104
88
G. A. C. HERKLOTS
sap is often extremely poisonous as also are the seeds of many species. Nerium and Strophanthus are both very poisonous. REFERENCES.—(1) Bentham (2) D. and T. (4) Hutchinson (6) Rendle.
MELODINUS, Forst.
Calyx without glands, Corolla-tube cylindrical; limb spreading, with oblique or falcate lobes, and 5 or 10 small erect scales at the mouth of the tube, either free or united in a ring or cup. Anthers oblong, included in the tube. Ovary single, 2-celled. Style filiform, with a thickened conical stigma.
Leaves Fruit ovoid or globular, succulent.-Woody climbers. opposite. Flowers in terminal sessile trichotomous cymes." Bentham, loc. Ch. p. 218.
Three species of Melodinus occur wild and fairly abundantly on the hillsides of Hong Kong and the New Territories. The flowers pure white, save for a yellow throat, possess a most delightful fragrance and are extreme- ly attractive. When the climber is in blossom the flowers are usually produced in abundance. The fruit is even better known than the flowers and is often referred to as a mountain orange, in M. suaveolens it may be 21⁄2 inches in diameter and in colour like an orange though tending even when ripe to remain a little green at the base. The fruits are pendulous. The plant possesses a milky white latex, if an immature fruit be incised this flows readily. In spite of this fact the fruits under the name of
Kar2 Lori Hoan" Quor false Lor Hoan fruit, may be seen exposed for sale in Chinese shops; it is, I believe, the pulp round the seeds which is caten for medicinal purposes.
Both flowers, and fruit of the previous season, may be found on the plant at the same time. The key and the descriptions in inverted commas, below, are taken from Bentham, loc. cit. p. 218. Mr. V. H. C. Jarrett tells me that he considers M. monogynus to be the commonest and M. fusiformis the least common and that M. suaveolens is commoner at low-elevations and rarer at a few hundred feet and over. DISTRIBUTION.—A small genus, confined to tropical Asia and the islands of the South Sea.
KEY TO SPECIES.
Scales of the mouth of the corolla 1 to 11⁄2 lines long. Sepals very obtuse.
Lobes broader ..1. M. suaveolens.
Scales of the Corolla united to the middle. than long
Scales of the corolla free. Lobes longer than broad
Scales of the corolla exceedingly short.
ones, acute
2. M. monogynus. Sepals, at least the outer 3. M. fusiformis."
A tall
MELODINUS SUAVEOLENS, Champ.
I. M. suaveolens, Champ, in Kew Journ. Bot. iv. 333. woody climber, glabrous, except a slight pubescence on the inflorescence. Leaves ovate, oblong, or almost lanceolate, 2 to 3 or rarely near 4 in. long,
The Flowering Shrubs and Trees of Hong Kong
The Hong Kong Naturalist.
May 1932.
105
HONT 1
Figure
1.
Melodinus suaveolens.
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