220 Kl'IMIORBIACEAE. 



1. Margaritaria bahamensis (Urban) Britton & Millspaugh. 



Phyllanthus bahamensis Urban, Symb. Ant. 3: 289. 1902. 



A small tree about 7 m. high. Leaves obovate-elliptic, oblong or lance- 

 olate, 2.5-8 em. long, 8-25 mm. broad, obtuse or acute, shining above, pallid 

 beneath; flowers . produced from between the stipules on short, few-leaved 

 branchlets; outer sepals ovate, inner orbicular, margin membranous; disk 

 beyond the stamens plane, the margin free and undulate-erenate ; anthers 

 orbicular-ovate; styles 3, spreading, each 2-lobed; fruit solitary, short- 

 peduncled, depressed-globose, 3-lobed, about 8 mm. broad. 



Coppices, scrub-lands and pine-lands, Abaco, Andros, New Providence and Eleu- 

 thera. Endemic. Reported by Coker as Phyllanthus virens Muell. Arg. Bahama 

 Margaritaria. 



5. XYLOPHYLLA L. Mant. 2: 147, 221. 1771. 



Aphyllous tree-like shrubs, with flat leaf-like coriaceous branches (phyl- 

 lodia). Male and female flowers mingled in glomerate or fasciculate clusters 

 in the serratures of the phyllodia; calyx 5-6-parted; staminal column entire or 

 divided, surrounded by as many glands as stamens; anthers transversely de- 

 hiscent; ovules 2 in each ovary-cavity; styles 3, depressed, laciniate or 2-cleft. 

 Fruit capsular. Seedlings, and sometimes shoots from stumps, bear small 

 normal leaves. [Greek, woody-leaf.] About 10 species of the West Indies 

 and Brazil, the following typical. 



1. Xylophylla Epiphyllanthus (L.) Britton; Small, Fl. Florida Keys 76. 1913. 



Xylophylla latifolia L. loc. cit. 1771. 

 Phyllanthus falcatus Sw. Fl. Ind Occ. 1115. 1800. 



A shrub, .75-2 m. high. Phyllodia subcompressed, scattered or distichous, 

 lanceolate to rhomboid, serrate above, 5-13 cm. loug, 0.8-2 em. broad; 

 sepals red; staminal column entire or trifid, anthers subsessile, spreading, the 

 cells distinct, ovoid-globose; styles slender, recurved above, 2-4-fid; capsule 

 sessile, subglobose, about 3 mm. in diameter. 



Rocky places near the coast, Andros and the Biminis southward to Grand Turk 

 Island : West Indies. Referred by Dolley to Phyllanthus angustifolius Sw. of Ja- 

 maica. Abraham-bush. Hardhead. Scipio-bush. Sword-bush. Races differ 

 widely in size and shape of the phyllodia. Catesby, 2 : pi. 26. 



6. PHYLLANTHUS L. Sp. PL 981. 1753. 



Annual or biennial herbs. Leaves alternate, entire, often so arranged as to 

 appear like the leaflets of a compound leaf. Flowers monoecious, apetalous, 

 a staminate and a pistillate Gne often together in the axils. Calyx mostly 5-6- 

 parted, the lobes or sepals imbricated. Stamens usually 3. Ovules 2 in each 

 cavity; styles 3, each usually 2-cleft. [Greek, leaf-flower.] Over 50 species, 

 of wide distribution. Type species: Phyllanthus Niruri L. 



Stem and branches straight. 



Seeds longer than broad, evenly ridged. 1. P. Niruri. 



Seeds as broad as long, unevenly papillate-lined. 2. P. pruinosus. 



Stem and branches zigzag. 3. P. pentaphyllus. 



1. Phyllanthus Niruri L. Sp. PL 981. 1753. 



Annual ; herbaceous. Leaves distichous, 1.5-2 mm. long, subsessile, obovate- 

 oblong, rounded at the apex or mucronate, glabrous, pale beneath; stipules 

 setaceous, persistent; pedicels axillary, from 1-6 times exceeded by the leaf; 



