Balania Harlandii (Hook. F.) V.T., of the H.K, Region & Its Relatives. 5
Collection 2 is also a single plant. It was found in Wong Nai Chung Valley on Hong Kong Island on November 2, 1931. The rhizome is large and deeply lobed and bears 4 inflorescences, each 3 to 4 inches tall and all staminate. The capitula are depressed conical as indicated by Hooker's figure of the staminate plant (see plate 1). The leaves (or bracts) are alternate or subopposite and extend half-way to two-thirds upwards on the peduncle, thus differing from Hooker's description and figures (plate 3).
Collection 5 includes 3 plants, one being staminate, the other two pistillate. They were collected on the Peak on Hong Kong Island, October 9. 1931. The staminate plant has 2 inflorescences and is about 3 inches tall, The lower flowers of the capitula are just opening. The capitula are nar- rowly conical and the bracts (or leaves) are concentrated at the base as in Hooker's figure. The two pistillate plants have a single inflorescence each; one is 3.5 inches, the other 4.5 inches high. The peduncles are slender (0.75 to 0.25 inch diam.), while the capitula are oblong conical (rather than spheri cal), the longer one measuring 0.75 inch in length and 0.25 inch in horizontal diameter (plate 7).
Collection 1 was made on Tai Mo Shan (Big Cloud Mt.) on the mainland, October 25, 1931. A dozen or more plants of various ages, sizes, and appearance are represented. One of the smallest is about 3 inches tall, with a single inflorescence having an almost globular capitulum and the bracts concentrated at the very base, a typical plant according to Hooker's description and figure. There is a seemingly depauperate pistillate plant in this collection, only 0.75 inch in length, with rhizome, bilobed bracts, and a capitulum 0.25 inch high and 0.375 inch broad, seemingly with mature pistils. There are small staminate plants closely approximating in size the one figured by Hooker. There are also pistillate plants up to 5.5 inches high, with single inflorescences and capitulà broadly conical (1.5 inches high by inch broad). In almost all of the plants the bracts are confined to the lower third, or even quarter of the peduncle. In one pistillate plant there are 7 peduncles arising from the complex rhizome (plate 2, bottom figure). The plates (1 and 2) will give some idea of the diversity of the plants of this collection.
Collection 3 consists of about 30 plants from Ma On Shan (Saddle Mt.) on the mainland. These are mostly shorter plants, very few being There are shorter over 3 inches high and only one as high as 5 inches. and longer, stouter and more slender plants, with capitula tending more to globular or globular-conical, with r to 4 peduncles to a rhizome (most commonly 1). In one case, what appears to be a single rhizome bears 3 inflorescences, I staminate and 2 pistillate, the only such occurrence noted. Plates 4 and 5 show something of the diversity of this collection. preserved, it was very waxy (or ceraceous), The variety shown by the plants of the Hong Kong area and their variance from the narrow descrip- tion of Hooker for his Balanophora Harlandii, naturally suggest that either more than one species may be included in the collections, or, as has been previously stated, B. Harlandii may be possible of greater gross morphologi- cal variety than has hitherto been suspected, and consequently, that species
Supplement No. 1, 1937.
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