A flora of Manila - Rainforestation

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A FLORA OF MANILA
pedicelled, 5-merous, the calyx-lobes lanceolate, about 7 mm long. Petals
obovate, white, pale-yellow at the base, about 12 mm long. Capsule linear,
cylindric, 2 to 3 cm long, about 3 mm in diameter, base narrowed, somewhat
longitudinally ridged.
In muddy places, pools of stagnant water, slow streams etc., fl. most
of the year; widely distributed in the Philippines. All tropical countries.
2. J. suffruticosa L.
A stout, coarse, erect, glabrous or somewhat pubescent, more or less
branched, often sufFrutescent herb 0.4 to 1.5 m high. Leaves lanceolate,
acuminate, 6 to 15 cm long. Flowers axillary, sessile or nearly so. Calyx
green. Petals 4, yellow, orbicular-obovate, about 1 cm long. Capsules
green or purplish, 3 to 5 cm long, 5 mm thick or less, 8-ribbed, the persistent
calyx-lobes, oblong-ovate, acute or acuminate, about 1 cm long.
In open damp or wet lands, fl. all the year; throughout the Philippines.
In most tropical countries.
3. J. LINIFOLIA Vahl. Silasila (Tag.).
An erect, branched, glabrous annual, 20 to 60 cm high, with green
or purplish, 3- or 4-angled or winged stems, and spreading, 3-angled
branches. Leaves narrowly elliptic-lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, acute,
base decurrent on the petiole, 4 to 10 cm long. Flowers axillary, solitary,
sessile, the calyx-tube slender, about 8 mm long, the calyx-lobes 4, green,
lanceolate, acuminate, nearly 4 mm long. Petals 4, narrowly oblong-elliptic,
as long as the sepals. Stamens 8. Stigma globose. Capsule green or
purplish, about 3 cm long, 1 to 2 mm in diameter, the seeds faintly or not
visible through the walls.
In open wet places, old rice fields, etc., common, fl. all the year ; throughout
the Philippines. A native tropical America, introduced and naturalized
here and probably also in the Malay Archipelago.
106. ARALIACEAE (GINSENG OR Papua Family.)
Herbs, shrubs, or trees sometimes climbing, smooth or prickly. Leaves
alternate, rarely subopposite, simple, entire or variously lobed, digitate, or
1- to 3-pinnate. Flowers small, regular, perfect or polygamo-dioecious,
in umbels, racemes, or panicled heads, the pedicels continuous or jointed.
Calyx-tube adnate to the ovary, the limb none, or truncate, or toothed
Petals 5, rarely more, valvate or imbricate, spreading, or coherent and
falling as a whole. Stamens as many as the petals, alternate with
them, inserted around the disk, rarely more numerous. Ovary inferior,
1- to 6-celled, rarely more; styles as many as the cells, free or united;
ovules 1 in each cell. Fruit coriaceous or drupaceous, small, cells 1 to 5
or 6 or more, the endocarp usually ridged.
Genera 54, species 650, in all parts of the world, chiefly tropical, 10
genera and 50 species in the Philippines.
Leaves simple, pinnate, or pinnately decompound 1. Nothopanax
Leaves palmately compound 2. Schefflera
1. NOTHOPANAX Miquel
Glabrous unarmed shrubs with alternate, simple, pinnate, or pinnately
decompound leaves. Flowers small, polygamous, in panicled umbels, 5merous.
Calyx-tube obconical, the limb with 5 minute teeth. Petals 5,
valvate, triangular-ovate, base broad. Stamens 5, inserted with the petals