1859, Gnidia eeiocephaia (Meisner, Gardner), When naming the di^awing 



shrubby, branches dichotomous, young shoots leafy : 

 leaves alternate, short petioled, lanceolate, acute, 

 mucronate ; slightly tapering towards the base, glab- "which it really belongs. 



ThymalecB. 



formerly 



rous on both sides : heads of flowers terminal, many- 

 flowered, involucrate : scales of the involucre ovato- 

 lanceolate, acute ; silky pubescent on both sides : 

 floAvers pentamerous, clothed with long white hairs. 



A common plant in alpine and sub-alpine jungle. 

 It is very common on the Neilgherrics, but I have 

 met with it in many localities ; it is also a native of 

 Ceylon, and I think of the Tenasserim Provinces. 

 Professor Meisner described this plant, under the 

 same name previous to Mr. Gardner, I therefore give 

 him as the original authority for the name, but adopt 

 Gardner's character, as being constructed to distin- 



The part represented at fig. 8 of the plate, is a 

 group of young fruit, and is quite correctly shown, 

 with the exception of the hairs, which do not belong 

 to them. They have the appearance of some taken 

 from a pod of Mucuna^ or capsule of a Stercvlea 

 which had adhered to them in the vasculum, and 

 which, through the carelessness of the artist, are in- 

 troduced as if part of the plant. 



EuPHORBIACEJE. 



This, though a very large order (200 genera and 



guish it from another which Meisner had not seen. about 2500 species) and complex in its affinities, is 



1860. Gnidia Sisparensis (Gardner), sub-arbo- 

 reous, branches dichotomous, young shoots glabrous, 

 leafy at the apex : leaves alternate, sub-sessile, ob- 

 long, obtuse or slightly retuse, glabrous on both sides : 

 heads of flowers terminal, many-flowered, involucrate : 

 scales of the involucre ovate oblong, obtuse, silky- 

 villous on both sides : flowers pentamerous, clothed 

 externally with long bro^vnish hau'S. 



Sisparah, Western slopes of Ncilgherries, on the 

 margins of woods, common- In its general aspect 

 this plant is so like the other that it might be passed 

 as such, but on closer examination it proves a very 

 distinct species. The point that first attracted my 

 attention was the diflference in the colour of the hairs 

 of the heads of flowers, tawny brown in this, almost 

 snow-white in that : fiu^ther examination showed 

 many other minute differences. 



1 861. Cansjera Rheedii (Gmelin) shrubby, scan- 

 dent, young shoots velvety: leaves shorty petioled, 

 broad ovato -lanceolate, acute, glabrous, somewhat 

 succulent : spikes axillary or paired, compact : rachis 

 and tube of the calyx densely clothed with short 



yet one which may be said to be generally easily 

 recognized by the almost constant presence of a few 

 easily-observed marks. 



The flowers arc very constantly unisexual, or in 

 other words the stamens and pistil are in different 

 flowers. The ovary is about as constantly 3-celled, 

 with the ovules — one or two — pendulous from the top 

 of the cell. The seed moreover are generally albu- 

 minous. 



It may, perhaps will, be objected to the first of 

 these that, in Euphorbia^ the type of the order, the 

 flowers are bisexual, or have both male and female 

 flowers within the same calyx. This is apparent, 

 not real, the supposed calyx being a cup-shaped in- 

 volucre, each stamen within which is a distinct male 

 flower, and, as in those of a sun-flower or other Com- 

 posita, they open in succession, never more than 

 two or three being apparent at the same time, though 

 the involucre is full of others progressively pushing 

 to the light- They for the most part have each one 

 or more bracts at the base of the pedicel, and in some 

 species a rudimentary calyx at the joint where the 

 pedicel ends and the flower begins. The same is the 

 case with the fructiferous flower which is at first 



appressed hah-s : calyx 4-5-cleft stamens 4^5 : sta- ^j^j^j^ ^^^ then the pedicel gradually elongates 



minodes fleshy, somewhat 3-toothed at the apex : 

 iruit oval, about the size of a common bean. 



The plant here figured is not by any means rare 

 in Southern India, and is evidently the same as 



Rheede's, Hort. Mai. 7-t. 2, but possibly not the 

 same as Roxburgh's C scandens^ for which he quotes 

 Hort. Mai. 7-t. 4. as most correctly representing it, 

 remarking, at the same time, that the other, "7 tab. 2, 

 appears to be the same plant.'* My impression is 

 that they are distinct species. 



This remark applies to the plate only, for I have 

 not the description by me for reference. However that 

 may be, I hope justice will in future be done to 

 Gmella by the adoption of his name which, so far as 

 I can make out, can claim 7 or 8 years priority in 

 its favom'. There are however 2 species in India, 

 one with fruit about the size of the common horse- 

 bean, such as are here represented, and the other, 

 having fruit as lar^e as a full-sLzed olive. The 

 fomner is the Canyera scandens of Roxburgh, the 

 latter, Ximenea olacioideSy W. & A. Unfortunately 

 I did not discover this until long after the plate was 

 printed, otherwise both forms might have been in- 

 cluded in it. The plant and flowers seem the same, 

 or nearly so in both, the fruit only differs, and that 



most conspicuously, in size, and to some extent in 

 structme- 



until the ovary and styles, which in fact constitute 

 the whole female flower, appear beyond it. Some- 

 times however it, too, has a distinct though rudimen- 

 tary calyx, as shown in the following plates. 



That this explanation, of the economy of these 

 curious flowers, is not a case of sti'Ctching a point to 

 suppoi't a fanciful theory may be learned from the 

 Fig, which is just such another involucre, covered 

 inside with flowers : females below ; males round the 

 apex. The Rose, too, furnishes an example of the 

 same kind, the hip or fruit of which is an involucre 

 studded all over with female flowers, each having its 

 own style, which, protruding beyond the throat of 

 the involucre, mixes with the exterior stamens and 

 thereby fertilizes the ovary within. 



The numerous genera of the order are grouped into 

 tribes, fii'st according to the number of ovules in each 

 cell of the ovary, and then according to the greater 

 or less perfection of the flowers. 



The following 

 "Tribes," which 

 Kingdom- 



are the essential characters of the 

 I copy from Lindley*s Vegetable 



1st. EuPHOHBiE-a;- Ovule solitary. Seeds albu- 

 minous. Fluwers monoecious, apetalous, male and 

 female mixed in a cup-shaped involucre. 



( 18 ) 



