Mil. Gk BENTHA.M ON EUPHO RBIACE M 257 



New and tlie Old World, without any special character in either, 

 and the American preponderance much slighter than in Jatropha 

 or Onto*. Out of 220 species, 135 are American and 85 from 

 the Old World, abundant in Africa, Asia, Australia, and the 

 South Pacific, as well as in the whole of tropical America, spread- 

 ing beyond the tropics southward in Africa to the Cape, and 

 northward in America to the United States. Much as the spe- 

 cies differ in habit, foliage, and inflorescence, they do not appear 

 susceptible of distribution into sections well marked either syste- 

 matically or geographically. The most distinct group, Linosta- 

 chys, has 6 American and 1 Old- World species. Some minor 

 groups may have a more local character, but have not been worked 

 out with a view to any but technical distinctions for practical 

 purposes. A few rather more divergent forms among the Ame- 



V^V ..W..U.M. V*~— u& 



rican ones show no approach to other genera. Acalypha, if we 

 include Mareya, is as distinct and isolated a group as Jatropha or 

 Onto* — this Mareya, two African species first published as 

 Acalyphce, being the only form showing some approach towards 

 other Old- World genera of the same subtribe. 



Alchornea, in its most natural limits, might, as proposed by 

 Baillon, include Alchorneopsis and Lepidoturus, but ought, I think, 

 to exclude Codebogyne, and perhaps also Wetria and Palissya, 

 which are scarcely yet sufficiently known. Thus restricted, 

 Alchornea, with nearly the same general range as Acalypha, is 

 nevertheless much more geographically divided; for the species 

 of each country are sufficiently characterized for them to have 

 been proposed as distinct genera. The principal section, Eual- 

 chornea, including Alchorneopsis, has 17 American species with 1 

 African one of the American type. Cladodes, otherwise the 

 nearest representative in the Old World, but quite distinct, has 5 

 species African and Asiatic. Bather more diverging 

 species are : — Aparisthmnium, 1 American species ; Stipellaria, 5 

 East- Asiatic and South-Pacific species ; Lepidoturus, 3 African or 

 Mascarene species ; and Lautembergia and Orjilea, both monotypic, 

 from Madagascar. Ccelebogyne, 1 or 2 Australian species, and 

 Adenophcedra, 1 Brazilian species, appear to be still more diver- 

 gent ; and there are a few genera of limited area, both in the New 

 and the Old World, especially in the latter, which are not too far 

 distant to supply some connexion with the principal Old- World 



groups 



Mallotus 



ifc 



