Megistostigma.] CXXXV. EUPHORBIACES, (J. D. Hooker.) 467 
M. malaccense, Hook. f. Ic. Plant. t. 1592. 
Matacoa, Maingay (Kew Distrib. 1423). SINGAPORE, Lobb. 
Stem about as thick as a crow-quill, terete, smooth, pubescent, as are the petioles 
young leaves and racemes, Leaves 4-6 by 2-2} in., thinly coriaceous, base sub- 
acute or rounded, pale greenish when dry, nerves 2-3 pair above the basal, transverse 
nervules slender; petiole 4—1 in., slender. Racemes, male 1-3 in., very slender, fem. 
shorter stouter; bracts minute; male fl. 4 in. long, fem. à in. Calyx of male 
sparsely hairy, of the female more hairy; anthers broadly trigonous in section, with 
the angle on the inner face, so that all three anthers meet by their adjacent faces. 
Styles united in a globose 3-fid mass much larger than the body of the ovary, on 
which it is sessile; lobes smooth within, not papillose. Capsule i-i in. diam.—Allied 
to Spherostylis, Baill., of Madagascar, which differs in the stamens. 
. 70. DALECHAMPIA, Linn.. 
Shrubs or undershrubs, often twining. Leaves alternate, entire or 3-5- 
lobed or -foliolate, usually 3-7-plinerved. Flowers moncecious, apetalous, 
m axillary androgynous sessile or peduncled racemes or heads, often mixed 
with sterile deformed flowers, involucrate ; involucre of two often large and 
coloured entire or 3-fid bracts, with a whorl of small outer ones at their 
ase; upper or inner floral bracts male, 3- or more-fld., lower or outer 
female. Disk 0. MALE rr. Sepals 4-6, membranous, valvate. Stamens 
20-30, on a convex receptacle, filaments free or connate ; anthers erect, often 
didymous, cells contiguous, parallel. Pistillode O. Frm. ru. Sepals 5-12, 
Usually pinnatifidly |fimbriate or lacerate, imbricate. Ovary 3-4-celled; 
Styles connate in a fleshy slender or stout colamn, with an obtuse dilated or 
lobed stigma; cells l-ovuled. Capsule deeply lobed, splitting into 3-4 
2-valved cocci, endocarp hardened. Seeds globose or ellipsoid, estrophiolate, 
albumen fleshy; cotyledons broad, flat.—Species about 60, all tropical, 
chiefly American. 
l. D. indica, Wight Ic. t. 1882; leaves 3-foliolate, leaflets serrate, 
bracts acutely 3-lobed, toothed, floral bracts 3-lobed, fem. sepals pin- 
natifidly laciniate segments subulate tips glandular. Muell. Arg. in DC. 
Prodr. xy. ii. 1241. D. coromandeliana, Heyne in Wall. Cat. 7798. D. 
bidentata, Thwaites Enum. 270 (excl. syn.). D. ternata, a. zeylanica, Muell. 
7g. 4. c. 
Deccan PENINSULA; Coromandel, Heyne; Dindygul Hills, Wight. CEYLON, 
at Gonagama, Thwaites. . 
A slender twiner, finely pubescent except on the leaves above. Leaflets 2-3 in., 
membranous, very shortly petiolulate, acuminate, terminal elliptic ovate, Jateral with 
the outer base enlarged rounded and sometimes lobulate ; petiole 1—3 in., very slender ; 
stipules and stipelle lanceolate. Involucral bracts 1 in. and less, yellow. Flowers 
Surrounded by many broad fleshy scales (deformed flowers). Sepals of fem. 8-12, 
Sender, rigid, ciliate. Ovary pubescent; style slender, stigma subeupular. Cap- 
"e 4 in. diam. Seeds globose, mottled.—I can find no difference between the 
ylon and Deccan plant. Mueller puts indica into a section with petiolulate leaflets, 
uM ternata into another with sessile ones, but the Ceylon specimens have the 
gest petiolules, 
2. D. velutina, Wight Ie. t. 1881; leaves deeply 3-lobed tomentose 
beneath, lobes ovate-oblong serrate, the lateral spreading, peduncle shorter 
an the leaves, involucral bracts 3-fid ovate-cordate serrulate, fem. bracts 
ute: Sepals of fem. 8-10 pinnatifid hirsute. D. scandens, var. €. velutina, 
uell. Arg. in DC. Prodr. xv. ii. 1245. 
