Plagiostyles. | CXXU, EUPHORBIACEZ (PRAIN). 1001 
78. PLAGIOSTYLES, Pierre in Bull. Soc. Linn. Paris, ii. 1326. 
Flowers dicecious, apetalous. Male: Calyx depressed-globose, open 
in bud; lobes 5~6, unequal, imbricate. Stamens 15 or 18 or 21; 
anthers subsessile, very finely scabridulous externally, 2-celled, de- 
hiscence longitudinal. Rudimentary ovary 0, Female: Calyx 5-lobed. 
Disk 0. Ovary 1-celled; style very short, cylindric, slightly eccentric, 
in fruit becoming lateral; stigma depressed-globose, finely papillose, 
entire; ovule solitary. Fruit indehiscent, 1-celled, transversely oblong, 
subcoriaceous. Seed filling the fruit cavity, somewhat adherent to the 
pericarp, with a lateral raphe at the end under the style; albumen 
abundant, oily; embryo large, cotyledons reniform-cordate, much 
expanded transversely, flat.—Tree. Leaves alternate, distinctly 
petioled ; petioles pulvinate at the base and apex. Flowers racemose ;. 
racemes axillary ; pedicels thickened. 
A single endemic species. 
Referred, on page 171 of this volume, to Monimiacee, the genus Plagiostyles, in the 
light of the more ample material now available, seems better placed in Euphorbiaceae. 
1. P, klaineana, Pierre in Bull. Soc. Linn. Paris, ii. 1327. A 
tree reaching 40 ft. in height, juice milky; branches terete, glabrous ; 
_ bark warm brown, lenticelled. Leaves petioled, oblong, acuminate, 
Margin faintly toothed, base wide-cuneate or rounded, 6-8 in. long, 
24-24 in. wide, thinly coriaceous, glabrous; lateral nerves about 5 on 
each side, looping within the margin ; petiole up to 4 in. long, glabrous, 
slightly pulvinate at the base, more distinctly at the apex. Flowers in 
axillary racemes shorter than the leaves, rhachis glabrous, under 2 in. 
long ; pedicels short, somewhat thickened upwards, glabrous. Male: 
Calyx glabrous, open in bud, cupular soon explanate above, fleshy ; 
lobes 5-6, sometimes up to 8, imbricate, unequal. Stamens 15 or 18 or 
21; anthers subsessile, finely scabridulous. Female: Calyx as in male. 
Ovary oblong, glabrous, slightly oblique. Fruit transversely oblong, 
? in. across, 4 in. high. Seed conform with the fruit, 3 in. long; testa 
thinly crustaceous ; albumen abundant, oily; embryo large; cotyledons. 
transversely reniform-cordate, } in. across, flat; radicle superior.—Pax 
in Engl. & Prantl, Pflanzenfam. Nachtr. ii-iii. 38; De Wild. & 
Durand in Bull. Herb. Boiss. 2™ sér. i. 836 and Relig. Dewevr. ii. 
205; De Wild. Etudes Fl. Bas- et Moyen-Congo, ii. 270; Th. & Hél. 
Durand, Syll. Fl. Congol. 487; C. H. Wright in Dyer, Fl. Tr. Afr. vi. i. 
171. P. africana, Prain in Kew Bulletin, 1912, 107. Daphniphyllum 
africanum, Miill. Arg. in Flora, 1864, 536, and in DC. Prodr. xvi. i. 5. 
Upper Guinea. Southern Nigeria: Oban, Talbot! Cameroons: Bipinde, 
Zenker, 1730! 30084! 3539! Mimfia, 670 ft., Zenker, 2789! Barombi, Preuss, 
421! Johann-Albrechtshiéhe, Staudt, 496! Efulen, Bates, 374! 
Lower Guinea. Spanish Guinea: Kongui River, Mann, 1811! Bebao, 
Tessmann, 472! Guboon: Libreville, Klaine, 555! 645! 1010! 1095! 1096! 
1202! French Congo: without precise locality, Autran, 738! Lower Congo: 
Stanley Pool district; Kimuenza, Gillet, 1716! Dembo Marshes, Gillet 1562! near 
Sanda, Oddon ! Kwango; Dyuma Valley, Gentil / 
South Central. Belgian Congo: Equatorial district; on the Lulenga, 
Dewevre, 855 ! 
