Synadenium.'] euphorbtacej- (Brown). 221 



1. S. arl)orescens (Boiss, in DC. Prodr. xv. ii. 187); a shrub 



3-5 ft. high ; branches terete, fleshy and green when young, finally 

 woody, marked with leaf-scars, ghabrous ; leaves alternate, 2-4 in. 

 long, |- 1-i- in, broad, cuneately obovate, acute or shortly cuspidate 

 at the apex, cuneately tapering from above the middle into a short 

 petiole, wing-keoled on the midrib beneath, glabrous on both sides; 

 umbels axillary and terminal, f-1^- in. in diam., with 3-5 simple or 

 once-forked rays; peduncles 5-9 lin. long, glabrous ; rays 2-5 liu. 

 long, puberulous; bracts under the involucre 1^ lin. long, l|-2 lin. 

 broad, cuneately subquadrate, truncate and with a few minute 

 teeth at the apex, puberulous on bolli sides; involucre 2-3 lin. in 

 diam., broadly funnel- or l)ow]-shaped, puberulous on the basal part, 

 with a spreading or ascending entire rim-like gland and 5 sub- 

 quadrate fringed puberulous lobes, greenish-yellow; ovary oidy seen 

 m a very immature state and included in the involucre, densely 

 pubescent; styles H lin. long, very shortly united at the base, 

 deeply bifid ut the apex, with spreading tips ; capsule not seen. 

 TTool.f, hi Hot, Mag, f. 7184; Wood, Natal VI iii. t. 2!)G. Eiq^ior- 

 hia (trhorescens, E. Meyer in Drege, Zwe! Pjt, Documeute, 184, not 

 of Boxh. E. cnpuJariSy Bolss. Cent. Eupliorh. 23. i?. synadenia^ 

 Bnill, Adans, iii. 142. 



Eastkrn Regiox : N;ital ; in thickets near Uuilazi River, belo\v 500 ft., Brt'jc, 

 4634! Iiiaiulaat ISOO ft., and in Durban Botanic Garden, Wood, 1G23 ! 1651a I 

 woods near Dnrlum, Wood, 6377 ! 8492 ! Lower Umzimkulu River, 500 ft., Wond^ 

 and cuUlvated specimens \ 



Described from a living plant cultivated at Kew. A very poisonous plant, 



^Ir. Wood states that when gathering specimens for the Herbarium, *' after 



taking the precaution of covering his face, keeping at arm's-length from tlie plant 



and carefully washing hands and face as soon as the specimens were disposed of, 



he has felt the etfects on the eyelids, nostrils and lips for several hours afterwards." 



Under eidtivatiDn at Tvevv. lutwever, it does not seem so virulent, as I and others 



ave frequently handled the plant witJioiit feeling the slightest effects from so 

 doing. 



II. EL^OPHORBIA. Stapf. 



Floral structftre exactly as in Eifphorhia, from w liicli it only diflers 

 Ijy its fruit, as follows : — Fruit indehi^cent, with a thick fiesh en- 

 closing a hard bony 3-celled endocarp or " stone," marked with a 

 slender groove down each of the 3 very obtuse angles and with a 

 pore on each face near the apex between the grooves, also, when 

 separated from the flesh, there is an opening at the base by which 

 the central vascular bundle enters the ''stone." Seed solitary in 

 each cell, sometimes abortive in one or two of the cells ; testa thin, 

 erustaceous ; albumen copious, somewhat fleshy ; cotyledons flat, 

 thick and fleshy. 



Trees with succulent, angular branches, becoming round and woody with age ; 

 leaves alternate, fleshy, entire, with a pair of spines at their base ; pe*luncles 

 axillary, simple or once or perhaps twice forked. 



DiSTKiB. Species 2, one of them a native of West Tropical Africa. 



