458 EUPiioiiBiACE^E (Prain). [Chrozo])1ioTa, 



closely allied to var. obliqtiifoUa, Prain in Dyer, Fl. Tn>p, Afr. 



vi. i. 835 {€: ohUquifoUa, Baill. Etude Gen. Eupliorb. 322) has, how- 

 ever, been met with on the Limpopo north of the Zoutpansberg 

 range and has, more I'ecently, been communicated to Kew by the 

 TransA'aal iluseiun from the Limpopo at ;^[azarabo in Gazaland, a 

 locality very near the northern limit of our area. This species affects 

 sand-banks in rivers and may in time be established in, if it has not 

 already reachedj the Limpopu basin south of the Tropic, From the 

 Zambesi basin northwards to Egypt and Palestine Oirozopliora 

 plicata is a prostrate herb; at Mazambo, as Dr. Breijer, to whom 

 we are indebted for this as yet most southern record of the plant, 

 it assumes the habit of an erect low-growincr shrub, 3 ft. high. 



XXIIL CEPHALOCROTON, Huchst, 



Floivers moua^cious ; petals 0. Male : Calyx closed in bud, 

 splitting into 3-4 valvatc lobes. Disc 0. Stamens 6-8 ; filaments 

 free, 2-seriatej inflexed above in bud, but again erect under the 

 anthers ; anthers dorsifixed, 2-celled ; cells dehiscing longitudinally. 

 Rudimentary ovary columnar, short, entire or 2-3-lobed. Female : 

 sejKth 5-6, elongated, unequal, pinnatifid. Disc annular. Ovary 

 3-cellcd ; ovules solitary in each cell ; styles connate below in a 

 short column, free and multifid above. Ca^jsale 3 coccous ; cocci 

 2-valved. Seeds ecarunculate ; albumen fleshy ; cotyledons broad, 

 flat. 



Slirul>s, ritellately hairy ; leaves alternate, 3-5 -nerved at the base ; stipules 

 small, laeiiiulate ; racemes terminal, androgynous, the male flowers aggregated ui 

 an apical peduncled subglobose head, tlie female flowers basal, loiig-pedicelled. 



DiSTRiB. Species about 8, all natives of Africa. 



1. C. depauperatus (Pax & K. Hoffin. in Engl. Pflanzenr. Euphorb. 

 Adrian. 12) ; a shruT;), freely branching ; branches and twigs clothed 

 ■with harsh scattered stellate pubescence; leaves sessile or very 

 shortly petioled, finnly membranous, spathulate-lanceolate, apex 

 obtuse, base cuneate, margin entire, f-1 in. long, -i-i- 



first rather densely clothed with stellate pubescence, but soon 

 becoming glabrous or with only a thin scattered stellate tomentum ; 

 stipules very small, spreading ; male flower-heads almost globose, 

 ^ in, across, borne on a slender peduncle f-1 4 in. long, the flowers 

 nmnerous ; female flowers at base of peduncle solitary, their pedicel 

 ■J in. long; ]nale calyx-lobes ovate-triangular, acute, 1 lin. long, 

 glabrous ; stamens 5-6 ; - rudimet^tary ovary columnar, dilated at 

 the tip ; female sepals densely stellate-pubescent, deeply pinnately 

 4-5-lacinulate on each side ; ovary finely pubescent ; styles very 

 shortly connate below, much laciniate above, glabrous; capsule 

 closely stellate-pubescent, ^ in. across. 



Kalahari Region: Trausvaal; Koomati Poort, 1000 ft,, SchlecJiter, 11779 1 



