from each other in the shape, texture and pubescence of 
the leaves. 
Descriprion.—Shrub 8-20 ft. high, usually dioecious ; young shoots glabrous 
in the typical form, dark brown, sparingly beset with pale lenticels. Leaves 
deciduous, oval, narrowly obovate, or oblanceolate, acute or acuminate, base 
cuneate, margin finely and often unevenly serrate or 2-serrate, 13-3} in. long, 
3-13 in. wide, glabrous or slightly pubescent above, always pubescent beneath 
especially near the midrib, strongly reticulate ; petiole }-} in. long. Flowers 
produced in short-stalked axillary umbels, the males 6 or more in a cluster, 
the females 1-3 in a cluster. Calyx 5-6-lobed, the lobes ciliate, acute. Corolla 
rotate, dull white, ;3; in. across; lobes usually 6, occasionally 7-8; rounded, 
obtuse. Stamens usually 6, occasionally 7-8, alternate with the corolla lobes ; 
filaments very short; anthers dehiscing longitudinally. Ovary ovoid; cells 
usually 6, sometimes 7-8; stigma sessile, stellately 6-8-lobed. Frait a scarlet 
globose or ovoid drupe, usually solitary, occasionally in pairs or threes in each 
axil, } in. long; stones (pyrenes) compressed, } in. long, 4-6 in each drupe, pale 
brown, smooth, bitter. 
Tap. 8832.—Fig. 1, base of leaf and flower; 2, male flower laid open; 
8, female flower; 4, the same, petals and stamens removed; 5, transverse 
section of ovary :—all enlarged. 
