1896. Emblica OFFICINALIS (Gsertner), arboreotis, 

 ramous : floriferous branchlets many-leaved : leaves 

 linear oblong, obtuse at both ends : flowers axiUary, 

 aggregate, small, yellowish. 



This tree is frequently met with in gardens, the 

 fruit being used by the Natives for pickling, and as a 

 condunent. I have met with what appears to me 

 another species, but as my specimens are not in fruit 



1 feel uncertain on that point. The genus is easily 

 distinguished from Phyllanthus by the cup-like lobed 

 disk which covers the ovary. The anthers, too, are 

 slightly diiferent from those of most of the the Phyl- 

 lanthi in having a broader connective, separating the 



2 cells to such a distance as to give each the appear- 

 ance of 2 cohering. This structure and the elonga- 

 tion of the connective, mentioned in some of the pre- 

 ceding species, are well shown at fig. 2 of this plate. 



Willdenow quotes Burm. Zel. tab. 88, for this plant, 

 which is a mistake, as it clearly belongs to his P. 



1897. Melanthesa TURBTNATA (R. W., M. truu- 

 cata^ R. W. in Icon., Phyllanthus turhinatus^ Roxb., 

 Konig.), shrubby or arboreous : floriferous branchlets 

 bifarious : leaves oval, obtuse, entire, sometimes 

 slightly unequal-sided : flowers axillary, frequently 

 male and female in the same axil : male flower 

 turbinate (top-shaped), six-lobed; lobes inflexed, 

 nearly closing the orifice : stamens united, anthers 

 adhering by their backs to the columnar filament : 

 female calyx deeply 6-lobed, enlarging with the 

 fruit : fruit before maturity baccate, when quite ripe, 

 dry and capsular, 3-valved. Seed 3, angular, arilled 

 at the base. 



Neilgherries, Malabar, &c. This plant, Roxbm-gh 

 informs us, attains the size of a large tree among 

 the mountains of Orissa. It is very common a little 

 below Coonoor, on the Neilgherries, but there I have 

 never seen it larger than a moderate sized shrub : 

 can it be that I am confounding 2 species under one 

 name ? Roxb. quotes the Hort. Mai. 5, tab. 3, for 

 his plant; I feel certain that that plate represents my 

 plant even better than my own, and therefore unhesi- 

 tatingly adopt Roxburgh's name. 



By a mistake, when writing the name on the draw- 

 ing, I wrote "truncata" in place of "turbinata." 

 Fig. 12 of the plate represents the aril, but too large 

 in proportion to the seed — at least when the seed has 

 attained perfect maturity, which the one represented 

 had not- 



^; 



1898. Melanthesa ehamnoides (Blume, PhyU 

 lanth. rhamnoides, Retz., WiUd? P. vitis id<jea^ Roxb.) 

 leaves oval, rounded at the apex, acute at the base, 

 glabrous : peduncles axillary, the inferior ones pah-ed, 

 male ; upper ones solitaiy, female, about the length 

 of the petiol: fruit embraced by the short calyx 

 (Blume) ; berries globose, bright red, mealy when ripe. 



A common plant near the Coast, 



The bright-red fruit, when abundant, gives the 

 shrub a rather lively and attractive appearance. I at- 

 tach little or no value to characters taken from the rela- 

 tive position of the male and female flowers on the 

 floriferous branchlets, as I find them about as often 

 wrong as right. The best characters I know for this 

 plant are, the prominent connective of the anthers, 

 the large ovary, in comparison with the small calyx, 

 and the red ben'ies, not one of which Blume admits 

 into his character, and therefore leaves room for 

 doubting whether the Indian plant be indeed the 

 same as the Java one, whence he takes his character- 



'07*US 



1898. Melanthesa obmqua (R. W.), leaves ob- 

 long, obtuse, unequal-sided, blunt, flowers axillary, 

 several together : male calyx turbinate, lobes inflex- 

 ed : filaments united ; anthers adnate : female calyx 

 six-lobed, enlarging with the fruit : stigmas 2-parted, 

 reflexed. 



This is perhaps too nearly allied to M. turbinata^ 

 but differs in the form of the leaves and in the male 

 flowers, which seem scarcely half the size. They both 

 appertain to Blume's 2d section, "stigmata semi- 

 bifida," along with his M. Chinensis, 



The genus Melavfhesa is at once recognised, 1st, 

 by the form of its male flowers which are top-shaped, 

 forming a sort of cone, the marginal lobes of which 

 are abruptly turned in over the openmg and rest 

 on the apex of the stamenoid column — and 2dly, by 

 the ovary which is truncated or even concave on the 

 apex, with the stigmas appressed to the surface. 



1899. Anisonema mui.tifi.ora (R. W-, PhylL muU 

 tiflorus^ Willd., Roxb., Katon Niruri^ Hort. Mai. 5 tab. 

 44., Rhamnus Zeylanica^ &c., Burm., Zeyl. tab. 88.), 

 shrubby, primary branches virgate, young shoots 

 pubescent : floriferous ramuli angular : leaves nearly 

 oval, obtuse, bifarious ; flowers axillary, aggi'egated, 

 several males and usually 1 female : male flowers 

 purplish ; berries 8-12-seeded, dark purple or black, 

 soft and pulpy. — Sweetish tasted. 



This is a common shrub near water, and when it 

 has the support of bushes often climbs to a great 

 height, hence the probability of this being Roxburgh's 



P- scandens. 



This plant clearly belongs to A. de Jussieu's genus 

 AnisoneTTia, and I think there can be no doubt of this 

 being P. mvltiflorus of Roxb. and Willdenow. My 

 figure, to my eye, seems scarcely so characteristic of 

 the features, if I may so say, of the plant as Bur- 

 man's in the Th. Zeylauicus. 



CEEATOCrNUM (R. W.). 



Gen. Char, Moncecious. Perianth six-parted, 

 lined within with a broad six-lobed disk, lobes free on 

 the margin. Corolla and glands none. Stamens 3, 

 filaments united below into a column, free and spread- 

 ing above, anthers 2-celled : covered in aestivation by 

 the free margins of the lobes of the disk : cells col- 

 lateral. Female perianth six-parted in a double 

 series. Corolla and glands none. Ovary truncated, 3- 

 angular, 3-sided, 3-celled with 2 pendulous ovules in 

 each. Styles 6, slightly adhering by pairs, springing 

 from the outer angles, not the centre, of the ovary 

 ("Styles from the horn of the germ and not from the 

 centre, each 2-cleft," Roxb.). Capsule globose, 3-cell- 

 ed, 6-seeded- SuflFruticose plants : floriferous branch- 

 lets alternate, spreading : leaves ©vate : flowers axil- 

 laiy, male and female mixed ; at first two or three 

 from each, afterwards becoming racemose in the lower 



axils. 



1900. Ceratogtnum bhami^oii>£S (R. W 

 amnoides, Roxb. not Willd.). 



• 



taken 



and 



( 26 ) 



