84 ROBINSON. 



does not at all agree with those of this species. An explanation may be that 

 Blanco, having decided that his plant was P. niruri, described the leaves as they 

 are in the latter, a procedure which he sometimes adopted: conversely, it would 

 be difficult to see how he could have called this species /'. niruri when the leaves 

 were so different, had he not subsequently changed the name to P. tctrander, 

 presumably believing that he had Roxburgh's species, whose leaves are described 



as "broad lanceolar, 2 to 4 inches long." In every other respect, the 



species markedly agrees with Blanco's description, as interpreted by Mueller; and 

 the other Philippine species closely approaching it, to which the description 

 might almost equally well apply, are ones which Blanco can hardly have seen. 

 In one respect Mueller wrongly described this species, in saying that the ovary 

 is glabrous, a pure assumption on his part, as Blanco makes no reference to the 

 point. It is accordingly thought desirable to append a partial description, 

 especially of the flowers and leaves. 



Male flowers toward the base of the brandies, borne on pedicels 2-4 mm 

 long: perianth-segments 4, lanceolate or sagittate, fimbriate, about 2 mm 

 long; disk-glands 4, separate, shallow, discoid; filaments short, united, 

 anther-cells (not anthers) 4, dehiscing transversely; rudiment of the ovary 

 present but minute : female flowers in fascicles of 2 or 3, not seen near the 

 bases of the branchlets, the pedicels about 1 cm long, conspicuously 

 thickened near the apex ; perianth-segments 6, united, at the extreme base 

 with a rounded sinus, linear-lanceolate, 3.5 mm long, the margins dentate- 

 fimbriate except toward the somewhat narrowed base; disk thin, annular, 

 but with 6 projections alternating with the perianth-segments, these 

 projections shortly but widely stalked, suborbicular or notched, thickened 

 at the apex; ovary villose, globose, 1-1.5 mm in diameter, 3- and less 

 conspicuously 6-grooved, 3-celled, each cell containing 2 ovules, which 

 are nearly oval in outline, about 0.6 mm long, with a brown testa; styles 3, 

 bifid nearly to the base, the style-arms linear, about 0.5 mm long: leaves 

 rhombic-oblong, usually broadest opposite the base, strongly inequilateral, 

 those near the base of the branches the smaller, the rest 13-21 mm long, 

 4.5-8.5 mm wide, the lower margin nearly straight or at the extreme base 

 slightly convex, the upper margin forming nearly a right angle with it, 

 the apex of the leaf rounded, apiculate. 



17. Phyllanthus laciniatus sp. nov. § Eriococcus. 



Floribus masculinis mediocriter pedicellatis, fasciculatis ; perianthii 

 segmentis 4, laciniato-fimbriatis; filamentis brevissimis, connatis, antheris 

 2, horizontaliter deliiscentibus : floribus femineis solitariis vel geminatis, 

 longiter pedicellatis; perianthii segmentis 6, masculinis similibus; gland- 

 ulis 6, subliberis; ovario obscure pubescente, 3-loculari : foliis breviter 

 petiolatis, rhombeo-ovoideis vel ellipticis, basi acutis vel rotundatis, apice 

 mucronatis. 



Male flowers in fascicles of 4-8, borne on slender glabrous pedicels 4-7 

 mm long ; perianth-segments 4, ovate, 2 mm long, the margins laciniate- 

 fimbriatej glands 4, free, flattened, 1 mm wide at the outer margin, 



