^ 



MicTOcocca .] EUPHORBlACEyE (Plain). 46 1 



to each bract ; female flowers solitary to their bracts, glonierules 

 occasionally shortly peduncled; nuile pedicels \ in. long or less, 

 female pedicels -J—] in. long ; bracts minute, ovatedanceolate ; 

 male calyx membranous, 3-lobed ; stamens about 15; recoptacular 

 glands ; female calyx 3-partite ; lobes imbricate, their mar- 

 gins sparingly pilose ; ovaiy glabrous, 3-ceIled ; capsule thinly 

 crustaceous. Claoxylon capense, Baill. Etud. Gen, Efipliorh, 493, 

 and in Adansonia, iii. IGl j MillL Arg, in DC. Frodr. xv. ii. 7SG ; 

 Sm, For, Fl Cape Col 317, and For. FL Port E. Afr, 105. 



Eastern Rkgion : Pondolaud ; near the Umsikaba HIvci-j Drege, 4636 ! Isiiiuka, 

 near mouth of St. John's River, 100 it., Flana<;an, 2502 I JJoIus^ 10283! Egus.sa, 

 Sim, 2415! and without precise locality, Badinuinn, 8051 Katal ; without precise 

 locality, Gcrrard, 1179 I Zululand ; Ngoya, 1000-2000 ft., WffUe in Ihrh. Wood, 

 7905! Wood^ 11570! Entumeni, 1500 ft., W^ud, 3979! Delagoa Bay; Louren<;o 

 Marques, Sbii\ Mai>uta, Sloi. 



XXVL MERCURIALIS, Liuu. 



FloKcrs dioecious ; petals 0. Male : Calyx closed in bud, splitting 

 into 3 valvate lobes. Stamens 8-20 ; filaments free, attached to a 

 small receptacle ; anther-cells globose or ovoid, divaricate or j^en- 

 dulous, ultimately ascending^ opening longitudinally above. Disc 0. 

 Ti udimentary 02;ar^ 0. Female: Calyx 3-sect to the base. Ovary 

 2-celled, rarely 3-celled ; hypogynous scales alternate with the cells, 

 linear-subulate ; ovules solitary in each cell ; styles free almost to 

 the base, short, erect or spreading, papillose, undivided. Capsule 

 - (very rarely 3-) dymous, breaking up into 2-valved cocci ; 

 endocarp crustaceous. Seeds ovoid or globose, smooth or rough, 

 testa crustaceous ; albumen fleshy ; cotyledons broad, flat. 



Annual or perennial herbs, glabrous or puT>e3cent ; leaves opposite, often 

 toothed, penninerved ; racemes axillary, male slender, the flowers in sparse 

 distant clusters on the distal Iialf of the rhachis, female usually very short with 

 1-2 .subsessile axillary flowers 



L 



DisTHiB. Species 6, all save one European ; one of the European species is an 

 introduced weed in South Africa. 



1. M. annua (Linn. Sp. PL ed. i. 1035) ; an annual usually 

 dia'cious herb; stem |-1| ft. high; leaves short-petioled, mem- 

 branous, opposite, o^vlte to ovate-lanceolate, acute, base rounded or 

 cordate, margin crenate serrate, 1^-2 in. long, |-1 j in. wide, shortly 

 ciliate on the margins, elsewhere glabrous on both surfaces ; petiole 

 l-^ in. long, glabrous ; stipules lanceolate ^ male racemes up to 2 in. 

 long; male bracts ovate, acute; female clusters sometimes with 

 male flowers intermixed ; styles simple, diverging ; capsule small, 

 tubercled, hispid, 2-coccous ; seeds brown, reticulate. Burm. /. 

 Prodr. 27 Us [31] ; Thuuh. Prodr. 78, and Fl Cap. ed. Schdt. 387, 



