460 EUPiiorvBiACE/E (Prain). [Eryfhrococca. 



tinctiy serrate, U-2i in. long, §-| in. wide, glabrous above, sparingly 

 adpressed-liirriute on the ner\es beneath ; petiole somewhat pube- 

 scent, l}j liu. long; stipules modified into conical thorns 1-1|^ hn. 

 long ; flowers racemose, rather small ; male racemes few-flowered, 

 their peduncles slender, glabrous, very short ; pedicels capillary, over 

 I in. long, jointed near the base; bracts minute, each several- 

 flowered ; calyx whitish, deeply 4-lobed ; lobes ovate, subacute ; 

 stamens 15-18, 8-10 outer, the rest central, accompanied by many 

 ovate pilose inter-staminal glands and surrounded by a ring of 

 5 flattened extra-staminal glands; female bracts each 1-flowcred; 

 female calyx green, 3-lobed ; lobes ovate, subacute, their margins 

 ciliate; ovary glabrous, 3-celled ; styles 3, free to the base, laciniate 

 throughout ; disc-scales 3, free, triangular, thin ; capsule usually 

 2-coccous or 1-coccous, ^- in. wide ; seeds subspherical. Prain tn 

 Ann. Bot. xxv. 613. 



Eastern Region: Natal ; near Duibau, 100-200 ft., Wood, 7582 ! 9216 ! 0430 ! 

 11810 1 Gerrard, 540! Mount Edgecombe, 200 ft., Wood, 11503 ! 



XXV. MICROCOCCA, Benth. 



Flowers dicecious or montecious ; petals 0. 31ale : Calyx closed in 

 bud, splitting into 3 valvate lobes. Staiucns 3-30; filaments free, 

 associated or not with minute inter-staminal inlands ; anthers 2-celled; 

 cells basifixedj erect, free except at the base, dehiscing extrorsely. 

 Rudimentary ovary 0. Female : Calyx 3-4-partite ; lobes imbricate. 

 Ovary 3-celled, very rarely 4-celled ; ovules solitary in each cell ; 

 styles 3, rarely 4, free, plumose-laciniate throughout. Disc composed 

 of linear or flattened hypogynous scales alternate with the carpels. 

 Capsule 3-dynious, rarely 4-dymous, breaking up both septicidally 

 and loculicidally into 3, rarely 4, 2-valved cocci ; valves thinly 

 crustaceous. Seeds globose wdth a thin aril and a crustaceous 

 foveolate testa ; albumen fleshy ; cotyledons usually broad, flat. 



Shrubs or herbs ; leaves alternate ; stipules very small ; racemes axill^uy, 

 usually 1 -sexual, occasionally androgynous ; male flowers glomerulate, occasionally 

 with a central female flower ; rarely the racemes mainly male but with a solitary 

 terminal female flower ; bracts small. 



DiSTRiB. Species 9, three confined to Africa, two to the Mascarene Islands and 

 three in South-East Asia, ^^'ith one wide-spread in all three regions. 



1. M, capensis (Prain in Ann. Bot, xxv. 630) ; a dioecious sbrub, 

 10-15 ft. high, rather sparingly branched; t\vigs glabrous; leaves 

 long-petioled, membranous, elliptic-lanceolate, acute or shortly 

 acutely acuminate, base cuneate, margin sharply serrate, 4-6 in. 

 long, 1^-2 in. wide, glabrous; petiole ^-l} in. long, glabrous; 

 stipules lanceolate, adpressed-pubescent, small, caducous; racemes 

 axillary, male 3-6 in. long, female 2-4 in. long; male flowers 6-20 



