306 CXXXV. EUPHORBIACEZ. (J. D. Hooker.) [Glochidion. 
apetalous, eglandular (without disk-scales or glands). Mate rr. Sepals 6, 
rarely 5, spreading in 2 series, imbricate. Anthers 3-8, connate in an ellips- 
oid or oblong sessile column with linear cells, dehiscence extrorse, connective 
produced into separate points or connate in an umbonate head. Pistillode 
0, or very rarely minute and hidden between the anthers. Fem. FL. Calyz 
usually ‘of 6 short imbricate sepals, or shortly tubular and unequally 
toothed or cleft. Ovary 3-15-celled ; styles connate in a globose columnar 
conical or subclavate column lobed or toothed at the tip, or 3 slender free in 
§ Glochidiopsis, sometimes obscure or confluent with the top of the ovary, 
usually lengthening during or after the flowering; ovules 2 in each cell. 
Capsule of 3 or more 2-valved cocci, often with twice as many lobes as cells, 
globose or orbicular and depressed or intruded at the base and top, crowned 
by the often enlarged style; cocci coriaceous or crustaceous, epicarp sepa- 
rable or not. Seeds hemispherical or laterally compressed, testa crustaceous 
with often a succulent coat, albumen fleshy ; cotyledons flat.—Species about 
120, tropical and chiefly Asiatic. 
I find it is inexpedient to follow Mueller (in DC. Prodr. xv. ii. 278) and Bentham 
(Gen. Plant. iii. 272) in reducing Glochidion to a section of Phyllanthus, from which 
it differs in the total absence of a disk, in habit, and in the singular modification of 
its styles and stigmas, Further, by keeping it distinct I comply with the wishes of 
Indian Botanists, whose opinion it is of importance to consult in regard to the no- 
menclature of so very large and universally distributed an Indian genus. The only 
deviation in any Indian species from the stylar characters of Glochidion as here 
limited occurs in the small section Glochidiopsis of Mueller, on which Blume founded 
the genus Glochidionopsis, and in which the styles are filiform and nearly free. 
I add with regret, that my long and laborious study of the Indian species has 
resulted in their very unsatisfactory limitation and disposition, Mueller’s primary 
division of Glochidion proper, based on the number of anthers, whether 3 or more, 
is a purely artificial one, and followed here only because I have detected no other £0 
generally recognizable. The form of the style offers a far better character, but 1$ 
very difficult of application, because of its minuteness and deceptive nature, owing to 
the great changes which it undergoes during its rapid development after flowering. 
I would urge on Indian botanists a study of this organ in living specimens, and the 
making careful drawings of it in all stages of growth, particularly observing the 
period of impregnation. Lastly, I have to acknowledge my frequent inability to 
identify the Indian species with the described Malayan Archipelago ones, from want 
of good materials of the latter and the vagueness of their descriptions. ‘The form 0 
the capsule, globose, or orbicular with depressed base or crown, is a guide to affinities, 
though often an obscure one. The female calyx, toothed or partite into sepals, 18 
also, I think, a good character, but it is not, when minute, easily observed in dri 
specimens. I have to acknowledge gratefully the loan of specimens from the 
Directors of the Botanical Gardens of Calcutta and Ceylon, which have helped me 
much, 
KEY TO THE INDIAN SPECIES. 
Sect. 1. GLOCHIDION PROPER. Styles confluent into a cone or column which is 
lobed toothed or notched at the tip. 
A. Anthers 4 or more. See also 28. obscurum, 38. assamicum, and 55. villicaule 
(sometimes 3 in 16. fagifolium and 17. braehylobum). 
* Female calyx of 5-6 distinct sepals. 
+ Capsule depressed-globose, distinctly lobed, base and apex intruded. 
S $ Ovary 8-12-celled; style a very broad shallow cone, with a hollowed vertex.— 
p. 1-3. 
88 Ovary 4—8-celled : style conical from a very broad base, as long as OF longer 
than the ovary.—Sp. 4-7. 
