Antidesma. | CXXII. EUPHORBIACEX (HUTCHINSON). 643 
(very rarely 2-) celled; styles 3, very short, usually 2-lobed; ovules 
2 in the cell. Drupes small, often oblique. Seed solitary by abortion 
(very rarely 2), without a strophiole; albumen fleshy ; cotyledons flat, 
broad.—Trees or shrubs. Leaves alternate. Flowers small, racemose 
or spicate, racemes or spikes often very slender, solitary or more 
rarely subpaniculate towards the ends of short branchlets. Bracts 
small, usually ciliate, 
About 80 species, distributed thronghout the warmer regions of the Old World. 
St'pules tripartite or laciniate. 
Sepals 8, equal; ovary glabrous —. . ° . iL. A. laciniatum. 
Sepals 5, unequal ; ovary hairy é : z oe 2s A Chevatiert. 
Stipules entire. 
Female inflorescence pendulous, 16-18 in. long 93. A. Saude. 
Female inflorescence (where known) less than 10 in. 
long, 
Midrib of the leaves glabrous above . : . 4. A, leptobotryum. 
Midrib of the leaves hairy above. 
Fruits sessile . : 5 : : E . 5. A, vogelianum. 
Fruits pedicellate. 
Leaves rather large, usually obovate, oblanceo- 
late or elliptic-oblanceolate, usually cau- 
date-acuminute, cuneate at the base, 
always glabrous excepting the midrib 
and lateral nerves . 5 : : . 6. A. membranaceum. 
Leaves rather small, usually elliptic or ob- 
long-elliptic, mostly rounded at the base 
and apex, rarely shortly and obtusely 
pointed, often hairy and sometimes quite 
tomentose below. c A : . ¢. A. venosuim. 
1. A. laciniatum, Mill. Arg. in Flora, 1864, 520. A tree 
15-30 ft. high ; branchlets smooth or slightly wrinkled, pubescent 
when young; bark grey. Leaves oblong- or oblanceolate-elliptic, 
acuminate, mucronate, mucro pubescent when young, rounded at the 
base, 4-10 in. long, 14-34 in. broad, rigidly membranous, glabrous 
excepting on the nerves and midrib beneath; lateral nerves 10-13 on 
each side, distinctly looped near the margin ; tertiary nerves and veins 
lax, prominent only on the lower surface; petiole 3-4 lin. long, stout, 
pubescent ; stipules deeply 3—-5-partite, oblong or obovate, up to } in. 
long and in. broad, densely pubescent ; lobes lanceolate, acute. Male 
Tacemes 2-21 in. long; peduncle pubescent ; bracts linear, 4 lin. long, 
long-pilose, Sepals 3 (rarely 4), ovate, obtuse, scarcely } lin. long. 
Jisk annular, fleshy, glabrous. Stamens 3. Rudimentary ovary 
Jnear-terete, glabrous. Female racemes at the time of flowering 
7-8 ‘in. long, attaining about 6 in. when in fruit; axis pubescent ; 
bract as in the male. Sepals 3, ovate, acute, } lin. long, pilose on both 
Sides. Disk saucer-shaped, glabrous. Ovary ellipsoid, glabrous; styles 
termina]. Fruit ellipsoid, about 4 lin. long, glabrous.—Miill. Arg. in DC. 
rodr. xv. ii, 260; De Wild. Etudes Fl. Bas- et Moyen-Congo, ii. 270. 
_ Upper Guinea. Interior of Western Lagos, Rowland! Southern Nigeria: 
Urezin, north of Benin City, Unwin, 113! Fernando Po, Mann, 20141 256! Barter 
