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Obituary

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During a survey of the ferns, orchids, grasses and Cyperaceae of the Malay Peninsula, based on all specimens in the Singapore herbarium, a number of undescribed species were found. These are described below. It is hoped that full revised accounts of all these families, as represented in the Malay Peninsula, will be published later. Various changed of names, found necessary during the work, are also here published.

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The following new species of Eugenia are described in anticipation of a critical review of the genus in the Malay Peninsula which it is hoped will be published in the near future.

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The binomial Alocasia macrorrhiza  has been used in more than one sense.  Some of the plants which have passed under this name are economically very important and found in cultivation or as escapes in the tropics of both hemispheres; others are of little economic value and not known in cultivation or as escapes except in their native country and perhaps in some botanic gardens. Further, many experiments and analyses have been made in order to test to their value as food to men and animals, and the results have been sometimes conflicting. The existence of many varieties in some of the species called by this name is also a factor that has caused further ambiguity. The present paper is an attempt towards the clarification of this ambiguity. It is my pleasant duty to record here my thanks to Dr. R. C. BAKHUIZEN VAN DEN BRINK, Agricutural Deaprtment, Buitenzorg, Dr. G. J. A. TERRA, Horticultural Division, Batavia, Dr. C. G. G. J. VAN STEENIS, Botanic Gardens and Herbarium, Buitenzorg, Dr. K. BISWAS, Royal Botanic Gardens, Calcutta, and Mr. E. F. ALLEN, Agricultural Department, Teluk Anson, Perak, for procuring for me planting material of the species and varieties connected with the nomenclatural problems of Alocasia macrorrhiza and its varieties ; without this material it would have been impossible for me to clear many difficulties discussed in this paper.

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The results embodied in this paper are of a study undertaken with the view of arranging systematically the Singapore herbarium specimens of the Licuala species indigenous in the Malay Peninsula. The present world conditions, entailing the cessation of intercouse with certain botanical instituitions, the dislocation of the staff at some others, and the risks to parcels during transit across oceans have precluded my obtaining either critical notes of the type specimens preserved outside the Malay Peninsula, or a loan of the specimens themselves. Under such limitations the results of my undertaking would have been of little systematic value but for the valuable assistance derived from BECCARI"S monographic work on the genus published first in an abbreviated form in Webbia V, 1921, pp. 22 - 55, as a part of Recensione delle Palms del Vecchio Mondo appartenenti alla tribu delle Corypheae and then in an extended form in the Annals of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Calcutta, XIII, printed in 1931 and published in 1933 ( cited below as Calcutta Annals or Calc. Annals XIII, 1933 ). In this latter work BECCARI incorporated the results of the opportunities he had not only of consulting the type material of most of the species he studied and of comparing newer material with it, but also of making lengthy critical descriptions, analytical drawings and photographic plates of such specimens.

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The ferns of the genus Diplazium occurring in the Malay Peninsula are all, with the exception of D. esculentum and D. polypodioides, found on the ground in shady forest, many of them only in moist places near streams. They are especially characteristics of the valleys at medium elevations in the mountains, though a few species are common in the more open parts of the forest. There are no epiphytes and no climbing species among them. Nearly all have short erect rootstocks ( sometimes developing a short trunk) and tufted fronds, sterile and fertile fronds being almost alike. There is comparatively little difference of external form among the species of the same degree of division (i.e., among pinnate and among bipinnate species), and there is ofcourse a certain amount of variation according to age and influences of habitat, so that the clear distinction of species is at first sight difficult, and there has in fact been much confusion in the past. I have found, however, that the characters of the scales are most useful in distinguishing species of similar habit, and I believe that I have arrived at a clear distinction of our local species, with the possible exception of D. Prescottianum. I have been unable to identify four of our species with any described from places outside the Peninsula, and so have described them as new. There are undoubtedly a very large number of species within the Malayan region, but I think that a good many have been described more than once. The descriptions are, however, inadequate as a basis for comparison, and much herbarium material is incomplete (part only of a leaf, or lacking in scales, or representing an immature stage). A study of much material over a wide area is necessary before a proper account of the genus in the Malayan region can be given. Diplazium cordifolium provides a remarkable case of polymorphism leading to confusion of names. Young plants develop rather large simple fronds which are often fertile, and this stage may persist indefinitely, especially in the lowlands. Mature plants, however, often bear pinnate fronds with several pairs of pinnae. The two stages have been separately named ; and the fact that other superficially similar simply pinnate species have sometimes a few veins anastomosing has also led to confusion between these and the mature form of D. cordifolium. The young stages of species may be characteristic, and so useful diagnostically, in this genus as in other fern genera, but they have been little srudied. I have noted especially the early stages of D. bantamense and D. riparium. In the following account of the species found in the Malay Peninsula, I have not attempted to give full lists of synonyms. There has been so much confusion in the application of names that such a lists of synonyms would be difficult to compile accurately. I believe that the names used are all correctly applicable to our species ; but I differ in some cases from the usage of the recent book by Backer and Posthumus on the ferns of Java. In such cases, the synonymy is briefly discussed. As regards citation of specimens, this is done only where I believe there has been confusion in the past, or in the case of new species ; in cases of well characterized species such as D. accedens and D. cordifolium there seems no need for the publication of lists of specimens. Specimens collected in our Singapore Field Number series (started by Burkill in 1912) are cited as S.F.N. Duplicates of many of these will be found in other herbaria, in some cases under other names than those now given. A list of numbers at the end of this paper may therefore prove helpful. It should be noted that the earlier distribution labels did not bear the words "Singapore Field Number". A fairly full description is given for each species. To aid in the identification of specimens, the most distinctive characters in each description are italicised.

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For many years the apparent differences between broad-leaved and narrow-leaved forms of Axonopus compressus, or Carpet grass, has not been generally regarded as of specific rank, although the names Paspalum platycaule Poir, for the broad-leaved form and Paspalum compressum, for the narrow-leaved form, have been used by some persons. The original Paspalum compressum, Swartz., is however, undoubtedly the broad-leaved grass. These two Carpet grasses have now been recognised as distinct species, the broad-leaved form retaining the present name ( Axonopus compressus Beauv.), while Miss Agnes Chase, an American authority, has defined the narrow-leaved grass as a new species, and named it Axonopus affinis, as follows :- Axonopus affinis, sp. novo.

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In my earlier paper on the subject, I published observations made on a number of trees during the years 1927 - 1931, and summarized previous observations published elsewhere on the behaviour of trees in the eastern tropics. I also gave a short account of the climate of Singapore. The main items of new information arising from my own observations was that a number of deciduous trees had fairly constant leaf-periods, which had no relation to the yearly calendar; and the conclusion drawn from this was that the length of leaf-period in such trees is due to primarily to senescence of leaves, the climate of Singapore being so uniform as to have little or no control. Subsequent observations, in some cases over a total period of ten years or more, have confirmed the fact that many deciduous trees have fairly constant leaf-periods not related to climate; but they have also shown many curious irregularities which are not always easy to explain. It is clear that there is every variety of response from almost complete independence of climate change to extreme susceptibility, and a tree that is regular in behaviour for a time may later show an unexpected change (e.g. Koompassia).  My earlier generalizations therefore need modification in some measure, and a fuller discussion of the whole subject is given below, followed by details of behaviour of individual trees.