Miscellaneous Botanical Notes V

In June 1952 Mr. J. Wyatt Smith, going through Malaysian Calophyllum at Leyden found that some sheets identified as C. neurophyllum Schltr. from New Caledonia (Bot. Jahrb. 39, 1906, 193) do not belong to Calophyllum. They were collected by Franc (no. 547) near l’Hermitage, along the border of a stream, Oct. 1906. It appeared they belong to Ochrocarpus. The sheets were identified by Bonati and certainly fit the type description of Schlechter, though the leaves are somewhat larger viz 10½—14 X 4-5½ cm and I found 4 petals (Schlechter mentioned 3). Their elliptic-oblong shape suggests that of O. longifolius (Wight) B. & H. and not that of O. odoratus (Raf.) Merr. (cf. J. Arn. Arb. 26, 1945, 94) which acc. to Merrill is rather uniform though of wide distribution and formidable synonymy. O. papuanus Laut. is different and so is O. glaucus Merr. from Samoa, the latter having a glaucous leaf-underside.