The Philippine journal of science. [Vol. 67, no. 1]

312

The Philippine Journal of Science

1938

LUZON, Albay Province, Cuming 883 [cotype of Shorea squas
mata (Turcz.) Dyer in the Philippine National Herbarium], 892.
The species was described from Cuming's 883 and 892.
The stipules are larger than in any other Philippine species
of Shorea; they are persistent for a time, extending nearly
around the stem. In some cases the stipules drop early, and
although they leave distinct scars, it is more difficult to recognize
the species. There is considerable variation in the amount of
hairiness.
Whitford's description adds the following:
The tree is strongly buttressed and has a regular bole with a length up
to 25 or 30 m. The crown is spreading, flatly conical in shape, and dense.
It is found more or less abundantly from the northern part of Luzon
to the southern part of Mindanao. It does best on rich, deep, but fairly
well-drained soils in the lowlands and seldom reaches an altitude of over
300 meters... It is confined to regions where the dry season is not pronounced.
The bark is from 8 to 16 mm. in thickness: it is brown to dark brown or
cinnamon brown in color, gray when exposed to strong light and black
when wet. It is rather prominently ridged, especially above. The inner
bark is stringy in texture and brown to slightly pink in color, especially
a distinct vertical band beneath the furrows... This tree resembles
closely almon-lauan, but can be distinguished from it by its darker colored
bark and much coarser, larger leaves and more prominent hairs. The wood,
also, is redder in color.
The plate in Whitford's paper gives a good representation of
the leaves and stipules.
Merrill's change of the name to S. palosapis seems undesirable. If he is correct in his interpretation of Blanco's exceedingly scanty description ("Some botanists might consider his
name a nomen nudum or at least a nomen subnudum") 5 it is
evident that Blanco made a mistake and confused the common
names palosapis and mayapis, both of which are usually applied
to Anisoptera thurifera (Blco.) Bl. The name palosapis has
not been found to be used for this species; the name mayapis is
the most used name for it in certain sections, particularly in
eastern Laguna Province and adjacent localities. It seems better, in view of the inadequate description, the mistake in the
use of the common name, and the lack of type material, to discard the name S. palosapis and to retain the well-authenticated
name S. squamata.

66 Loc. cit.