Abstract:
During embryological investigations of the Durian plant (Durio zibethinus) some abnormal ovaries were seen to have stamens and carpels developing inside the ovary. These abnormal ovaries had normal ovules developing, and in the central region of the ovary, superfluous carpels as well as stamens were in different stages of development. Previous recorded accounts of such a kind are very few and that too mostly in the family Cruciferae. Masters (1869) describes a few instances of the formation of adventitions flowers and fruits within the ovary. In Cheiranthus cheirii (Cruciferae) the development of a small silique within the normal ovary has been illustrated (Masters, p. 182). This small silique developed on the plasenta amidst the other ovules. In Beckia diosmaefolia (Myrtaceae) formation of stamens within the cavity of the inferior ovary has been recorded. These abnormal stamens, replaced the ovules and had distinct filaments and anther lobes (Masters, p.184, Fig.98). Worsdell (1916) recorded the development of anthers on the inner carpellary margin in Tulipa gesneriana (Liliaceae). In Allamanda grandiflora (Apocynaceae), Kausik (1938) reported the formation of an elongated axis (gynophore) that replaced the ovary, carrying two leaf-like carpels on its distal end. These carpels formed ovaries, with ovules present on their adaxial surfaces. Recently Hulbary et al (1957) have described the development of flowers within the ovary of Raphanus sativus (Cruciferae - Radish). Young and mature flower buds in different stages of development were collected from Durian plants, growing in Singapore Orchid Gardens, Mandai Road, Singapore. The material was fixed in formalin-acetic-alcohol. After removing a portion of the ovary wall they were dehydrated and embedded in paraffin. Long sections of ovaries were prepared and stained to study the development of female gametophyte and seed.

Abstract:
There is a good deal of speculation on the etymology of the word Cocos and many explanations have been proposed to account for it. According to the most common view, the companions of VASCO DA GAMA used the Portuguese word coco, meaning "an ape" or "hugbear", to denote the coconut (fruit) during their first visit to India and through them it was introduced in the modern languages of Europe. This view is explanined by GARCIA DA ORTA (1490 - 1570) who, after a distinguished career at the Universities of Spain and then in his native Portugal, came as a surgeon to India and during his long stay there (1534 - 1570), gathered a good deal of information on the medicinal and economic plants, including their vernacular names and uses. In Coloquios (first published in Goa in 1563), he deals with the coconut palm in Coloquy 16. The following passage explains the origin of Coco: "It gives so many things necessary to man, that I know no other tree that yields a sixth part. It is well that you should know that we call it palmeria (palm-tree). However, the ancient Greeks wrote nothing about it that I have seen, and the Arabs have written little. It will be a good thing to tell this in Castille, though this much is probably well-known through those who return from here, since this is at once noticed. Coming to the names I must say that it (the tree) is called (in Goa) Maro and the fruit Narel. This word narel is common to all, for it is used also by Persians and Arabs. AVICENNA (lib. 2, p. 506) calls it Jauzialindi (Jauz el Hindi) which mean "Nut of India". SERAPIO (Cap. 228) and RASIS call the tree Jaralnare which means the tree (jara) that yields Coquo (narel). The Malabar people call it the Tengamaram and the fruit, when ripe, Tenga. The Malays call the tree Tricam, (Javanese Wit-Krambil ?) and the coco nihor; and we, the Portuguese, because of those three holes, gave it the name coquo, for it looks like the face of an ape or another animal. "It is to be noted here that the Portuguese of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries often use qu for c hard or k, as in Arequa (Areca) so that coco was spelt in the olden times also as coquo or quoquo, though in modern Portuguese qu is employed instead of c before e and i only as in Coqueiro (coco-tree) since before these vowels c acquires a soft sound of s. (qu before other vowels retains the sound u sound so as to be pronounced as cu e.g. quarto, quadro). This is probably the reason why CANDOLLE (1855) could not find the word coquo in the Portuguese dictionaries of his time, since that old spelling must have been discarded as antiquated.

Abstract:
Study leave from the University of Singapore affording the opportunity, the author has been engaged at the herbarium of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew on further study of Malayan grasses. The unrivalled collection of types and the fine library have brought to light the need for the changes indicated below. Compare the author's previous "Checklist of Malayan Grasses" Gard. Bull. Sing. 19 I, 147. 1962.

Abstract:
The Malay lumut puteh ('white moss') refers to members of the Leucobryaceae which are exceedingly common in both terrestrial and epiphytic habitats throughout Malaysia. This family was established by Hampe (1837) under the name Leucophaneae, which was changed to Leucobryaceae by Mueller (1843) to accord with the principal genus, Leucobryum. It is but poorly represented in temperate regions of the world but well developed in the tropics. In Malaysia there are at least seven genera comprising about thirty-seven species. The family has been regarded as an isolated one (Cardot, 1899) by virtue of the pronounced cellular dimorphism of the anatomical elements of the leaves; or a highly artificial group (Andrews, 1947). The latter author suggests members should be placed partly in the Dicranceae and partly in the Calymbryaceae. In my studies of the Malaysian Leucobryaceae I have inclined to the view that, although related to the Dicranceae, the Leucobryaceae form a distinct natural group with the exception of the last named genus, Exodictyon, which is clearly related to the large but poorly known family, Calymperaceae. Further studies on Exodictyon may show it is not true member of the Leucobryaceae. The very striking plants referred to this family are almost entirely tropical in distribution with the exception of the temperate Leucobryum glaucum. Because of its striking white colour, this species was readily recognised by early botanists. Doody (1696) mentions 'mucus trichoides montanus albidus fragilis,' and this plant was figured by Moris (1699). In Dillenius' catalogue (1719) a moss was described as 'bryum trichoides, erectis capitulis, albidum fragile'. Linnaeus placed this plant in the all-embracing genus Bryum. Legitimate publication for mosses (except Sphagnaceae) begins with Hedwig's Species Muscorum (1801) where it was placed under Dicranum. Other bryologists have referred the same species to Hypnum, Fuscina, Mnium, Oncophorus and Sphagnum. It was not until 1837 that the Leucobryaceae came into their own as a group apart from other mosses.

Abstract:
There are two species of the stinging trees belonging to the genus Laportea (Urticaceae) known in Malaya, but the descriptions in Ridleys Flora (1924) are very scanty. Thus, because I have become familiar with both species in the field, it may be of interest to give descriptions of the living plants. The more familiar species is L. stimulans Miq., and it has been stated to be not uncommon in Malaya, but it is undoubtedly absent from wide areas. The second species L. pustulosa Ridl., is extremely rare, and until I found some in 1959, it was known perhaps only from Father Scortechnii's original collection from somewhere in Perak. Dr. Chew Wee-Lek, who has been studying this genus, now believes that L. pustulosa is conspecific with a species that is widespread in Malaysia and India, and will soon be publishing his conclusions, thus nomenclature will not be discussed here.

Abstract:
Lists of plant disease records for Sarawak have been given by Johnston (1960) and Turner (1963). The present list consists of previously unrecorded diseases, together with a number of entomogenous fungi, noted or collected in Sarawak during the year 1962.  The causal organisms are arranged alphabetically under their individual hosts.  The frequency of occurrence is given, together with the Commonwealth Mycological Institute Herbarium serial number, where the identification has been performed by the Institute.

Abstract:
No abstract.

Abstract:
This widespread species (and genus) apparently does not appear to have been found previously in the Malay Peninsula nor in Singapore, although Beddome (4) does record it from here, and Ridley (16), under Nephrolepis ramosa lists it as having been collected by Mathews in Selangor (Batu Caves), but Holttum (12) states that the genus has not yet been found in Malaya. I have not seen any Malayan material, apart from my own, in other herbaria. According to Holttum's classification (11), Arthropteris belongs to the Dennstaedtiaceae, in the subfamily Oleandroideae, of which both Oleandra and Nephrolepis are represented in Malaya.  Copeland (9), on the other hand puts these into Davalliaceae, as does Miss Tindale in her treatment of this family for SE. Australia (19), (but she uses the subfamily Oleandroideae.)

Abstract:
No abstract.

Abstract:
This is the second precursory paper to the forthcoming publication of a Forester's Manual of the Dipterocarpaceae of Brunei State. Taxonomic and nomenclatural discussion is out of place in the Manual and this paper is therefore presented in order to explain changes that have been made. The late Dr. D. F. van Slooten and C. F. Symington have between them written much on the infrageneric divisions recognisable within Malaysian dipterocarp genera. Symington (1943 and elsewhere) had crystallised his views on this problem, but never proceeded to a complete revision of the infrageneric classifications or to formal publication of new infrageneric taxa. This gap has remained, and therefore must be filled before further manuals or monographs of the family are completed. I have found it necessary to make nomenclatural changes in most genera where infrageneric divisions are recognised; the present paper explains my reasons for these. With the much more complete herbarium material now available, particularly from Borneo, the subdivision of the large genera Shorea and Hopea, which Symington has already done so much to elicidate, can now be reassessed. Here, though agreeing with Symington on the basis for subdivisions, I have, with the exception of one section, found it unnecessary to create new names; they have already been provided by Brandis (1895), Heim (1892) and other previous monographers, though in many cases a redefinition is necessary. I wish to thank the Directors of the following herbaria for putting their facilities at my disposal during my visits to study Dipterocarpaceae: Bangkok Forest Herbarium, Bangkok Agricultural Herbarium, Herbarium Bogoriense, the British Museum, the British Pharmaceutical Society, Cambridge, Kepong, Kew, Kuching, Leiden, the Linnean Society, Oxford, Paris, Sandakan, Singapore and Utrecht. I further thank the Directors of the following herbaria for the loan of material to me at Cambridge: Berkeley, Calcutta, Copenhagen, Florence, Kepong, Kuching, Leiden, and Paris. In order to avoid synonymy when describing new Dipterocarpaceae in my last paper (this journal, 19, 2 (1962) 253), I examined the Type material of all Dipterocarpaceae occuring between Celebes and the Isthmus of Kra. I have been able to discover the true identity of all but two of the species described to date from this area, including species founded on sapling or fallen leaves by Korthals (1841), De Vriese (1861, b) and others. The second purpose of this paper is to explain my reasons for changes in nomenclature and synonomy that I have found necessary. In addition, I have described one more species, Shorea crassa, which was not fully understood by me at the time of completion of my last paper, and have given taxonomic status to the geographical subspecies of some Dipterocarpus and Shorea species. As full field and herbarium descriptions are given in my forthcoming manual, I have excluded them here, though short diagnosis are included with some species in order to clarify my arguments. I have to thank in particular Mr. E. J. H. Corner, F.R.S., for his continued advice and encouragement, and Mr. B. E. Smythies, Dr. W. Meijer, who is also completing a manual, on North Borneo Sell, of Cambridge Herbarium, has on several occasions offered advice on nomenclatural problems. The work has been carried out under the auspices of the Government of Brunei, and my thanks are due to them for their financial support.

Abstract:
Very few plant diseases had been recorded from Sarawak until Johnston (1960), carried out a preliminary survey in 1959. The list given below consists of previously unrecorded diseases, together with a number of entomogenous fungi, noted or collected by the writer from the time of his arrival in Sarawak, in August 1960, until the end of 1961. Fifteen of these records appear in the Annual Report of the Department of Agriculture for 1961, but most of them were identified after the Report had been sent to the press. The causal organisms are listed alphabetically under their individual hosts. The frequency of occurrence is given, together with the Commonwealth Mycological Institute Herbarium serial number, where the identification has been performed by the Institute.

Abstract:
No abstract

Abstract:
Poikilospermum is a genus of Urticaceae with twenty species segregated into two subgenera viz., subgen. Poikilospermum and subgen. Ligulistigma. Morphologically, this genus is rather intermediate between the Moraceae and the Urticaceae: the vegetative structures are moraceous while the reproductive parts are urticaceous. Decision to regard this genus as one of Urticaceae is based on mainly on the fact that ovules of all the species of Poikilospermum are orthotropus and basally fixed, a characteristic of the Urticaceae. Species of subgenus Poikilospermum are mainly found in Eastern Malaysia whereas those subgenus Ligulistigma are mainly Western Malaysian.

Abstract:
While arranging the specimens of MELASTOMATACEAE from the herbaria of Singapore and Sarawak certain systematic anomalies or confusions that were noticed, were cleared to form the subjects of these notes.

Abstract:
From June to July in 1961, I joined an expedition to Guning Mulu, Sarawak.  During the trip, pickled and herbarium specimens of Phyllocladus hypophyllus Hook. F. were collected. As our present knowledge of this interesting species is still more or less limited to the incomplete descriptions prepared by Hooker f. in 1852 and bt Pilger in 1903, a comprehensive description of the external morphology and a drawing both made from authentic specimens, are here presented. An anatomical study of the seedling, phylloclade, male and female strobili, and young seed of this species will be published elsewhere.  Many specimens of this plant from various geographical regions, cited in this paper, are deposited in the herbarium of the Singapore Botanic Gardens. For the facilities provided, I am greatly indebted to Mr. H. M. Burkill, Director of the Gardens. I wish to express my sincere gratitude to Professor H. B. Gilliland for his encouragement during the progress of this study and for reviewing the manuscript, and to Dr. J. A. R. Anderson, for his distinguished leadership during the expedition.

Abstract:
The genus Phyllocladus Louis Claude Marie Richard occupies an equivocal position in the conifers. The opportunity to collect and study material of the hitherto little known species, Phyllocladus hypophyllus Hook. F., suggested a review of the perennial taxonomic problem surrounding this genus in the light of new information. The object of this paper is to re-assess the taxonomic position of Phyllocladus among the higher categories in the conifers. The apparently conflicting morphological features of Phyllocladus lead to quite diverse taxonomic treatment of the genus, depending on the relative weight assigned to these features. For example, the leafy microsporophyll bearing two microsporangia at the base and the winged microspores resemble those of Podocarpus and allied genera; the erect ovules and the peculiar arillus structure appears to be similar to those of Taxus and allied genera. For this reason, there are two different ways of classifying this genus. The first is to consider Phyllocladus as representing a third taxon intermediate between Podocarpus and allies and Taxus and allies. The second is to regard Phyllocladus as a part of the taxon in which Podocarpus and its allies are included. There is also involved the question of the family concept of the Taxaceae. In a broad sense, Taxaceae contain both Podocarpus and its allies aa well as taxus and its allies; the former constitute the tribe Podocarpineae, and the latter, Taxineae. In a narrow sense, Taxaceae include Taxus and allied genera only, where as Podocarpus and allied genera form a separate family, Podocarpaceae. Thus far, four different ways of classifying the genus Phyllocladus have been proposed.

Abstract:
Small collections of mosses from West New Guinea have been recorded by Dixon, Brotherus, Fleischer and Reimers; while a large collection from Mt. Wilhelmina was made by Brass and Myer-drees and recorded by Bartram (1942). A small collection of liverworts was collected by Takari Tuyama in Vogelkop in 1943 and was recorded by Hattori (1951). Records of an extensive collection of mosses from Eastern Papua were made by Bartram (1957). Records from the Territory of New Guinea of mosses collected by the Count and Countess Nils and Greta Gyldenstolpe in the Mt Hagen district were given by Bartram (1953). Further collections in the Highlands of Eastern New Guinea were made by Hoogland in 1953 and Robins 1957. These collections were recorded by Bartram (1959). The bryophyte flora of New Guinea is immensely rich and very imperfectly known (Bartram, 1959), although it has a considerable affinity with the flora of the rest of Malaysia, there are a large number of endemic species; while alpine and sub-alpine species show a close relationship with the flora of Australia, Tasmania and New Zealand.  Professor Gilliland's collection was made in September 1960 in two places :- Chimbu and the Daulo Pass (6,000 - 8,170 ft.) Australian Territory of New Guinea.  The numbers assigned to the bryophytes are accession numbers of the Bryophyte Herbarium of the University of Singapore.

Abstract:
Small samples of soil from the Australian territory of New Guinea were received together with Bryophytes collected by Professor H. B. gilliland in 1960. These samples were kept in polythene bags and owing to transport difficulties, did not reach this labotatory until one year after their dispatch. The soil was carefully separated from the Bryophytes which have been described in a previous paper. Two sets of soil cultures were set up :- (i) moist culture, i.e. samples of soil placed in sterile petri-dishes and exposed to continuous light; (ii) liquid cultures in nutritive medium, following the method of John (1942). In both types of culture there was a vigorous growth of algae and there was considerable correspondence between algae which appeared in moist and liquid culture of the same sample. Four samples were obtained from localities on the Daulo Pass, 6,000 - 8,000 ft.; while a fifth was obtained from Chimbu. In all cases the soil was collected from 1-2 cm of the surface.

Abstract:
Aglae are present in Malayan soils to a depth of several centimeters or sometimes to one meter. Deeply buried subterranean forms probably have their origin from the soil surface having been washed down by rain, aided by the movement of soil animals and by cultivation. These algae are undoubtedly in complete darkness and must survive as saprophytes (Tiffany,1951). In general they are of little importance in soil economy. On the other hand, the truly epiterranean forms which remain at or near the soil surface are exceedingly important since they can increase the organic content of the surface layers of the soil by photosynthesis, while certain Nostocaceae can contribute to the fertility of the soil by nitrogen fixation (de, 1939). Soil algae are exceedingly important ecologically particularly in tropical regions as first colonisers of bare ground. Many algae assist in the actual disintegration of a rock surface to form soil, in addition to forming an organic matrix suitable for higher plant growth.  (Fritsch, 1907; Treub, 1888). Investigation of surface algae in Europe include those of Petersen (1935); Bristol (1920); James (1935) and John (1942). In America Coyle (1935); Booth (1941); Lowe & Moyse (1934); Moore & Carter (1926) and many others have made studies of the soil flora of different districts.  Valuable contributions to our knowledge of soil algae of Ceylon were made by Fritsch (1907, 1907 a, 1907 b). Ghose gives an account of the Cyanophyceae of Lahore and Simla (1923). As far as I am aware the only paper on Malayan soil algae is that of Bristol (1919).                                                        

Abstract:
The recent Royal Society Expedition to North Borneo, 1961 has produced three interesting new species and four new varieties, illustrative of the richness of the Bornean flora in this genus. One species, F. diandra, was found within a few miles of Kuching. Exploration of New Guinea forests is producing now a crop of climbing species sect. Rhizocladus, and I have taken the opportunity to illustrate the figs of some species of this intricate section.