Tab > 9, 
SECURINEGA NITIDA. 
[N° 4 : 74 | > ane 
Nar. Orv. Euphorbiacee, Juss. Linn. Syst. /Monoecia Pentandria. 
Masc. Cal. 5-partitus. Stamina 5, filamentis brevibus, basi quasi monadelphis, 
SECURINEGA, Juss. Monoica. 
extiis corona crocea cinctis: Fem. Arbor procera ; folia alterna mtegerrima ; flores glomer ati axillares. Juss. 
Gen. 388. 
S. nitida. Willd. Sp: Pl. 4.761. Ait. Kew. ed. alt. 5. 383. Smith in Rees Cyel. in t. 
Rami leves, brunnei, rimis brevibus longitudinaliter sulcati ; juniores virides glandulosi. lia alterna, petiolata, 
Flores monoici, axillares, subsolitarii, masculi 
Descr. 
oblongo-lanceolata, glaberrima ; adulta coriacea. Stipule breves rotundate. 
cum foemineis mixti, cernui, pedicellati. Calyx 5-partitus, inequalis, laciniis pallidis, subflavescentibus, venosis, rotundatis, 
2 exterioribus paulo minoribus. 9 Discus magnus, crassus, siccus, hine semper stamine sterili preditus, evehens ovarium ova- 
tum, pallidum, 3-loculare, ovulis binis appensis. Stylus 1. Stigmata 3, paulo divaricata, 2-fida, canaliculata. Stamina 5 in 
disco magno, pentagono, madido inserta. Filamenta subulata, calyce breviora. Antherw parve, postice, incumbentes, subro- 
tunde, 2-loculares; loculis transversé dehiscentibus. Pollen obtusé trigonum. Fructus 
ET OSL A a 
This exceedingly raré plant was first described by M: de Jussieu, in his Genera Plantarum, from specimens 
gathered in the Isle of France by Commerson. His materials, however, do not appear to have been very perfect, as 
he was unable to determine whether the plant was Moneecious or Dicecious ; and what the structure of the female 
flower was. The shrub having scarcely been seen by any other botanist, its history is at this time very nearly in the 
same state as it was when the genus was first founded. 
Willdenow and Persoon have both erroneously referred it to Diecia, we know not upon what authority ; for it 
certainly bears male and female flowers upon the same plant. M. de Jussieu has considered it allied in natural affinity 
to Buxus, next which he has placed it; an idea, which the structure of the female flowers, with which, as we have 
already observed, he was unacquainted, does not seem to confirm. 
Its name was derived from the excessive hardness of its wood, which is so compact as to resist the blows of the axe, 
and is called Bots dur by the colonists at the Isle of France. It is also a native of Otaheite, whence it was intro- 
duced to this country, in the year 1793, by Rear-Admiral Bligh. 
Ge the same natural order with this plant belong the common Spurge of our hedges, the Ricinus, from the seeds of 
which castor-oil is expressed ; and the Caoutchoue of Cayenne, which produces that invaluable substance so well 
known in Europe under the name of gum elastic, and among us of Indian rubber. The Stillingia, from which is 
obtained a sort of tallow, applied to domestic purposes by the Chinese ; and the dangerous Manchineel tree are also 
nearly allied to it. 
EXPLANATION OF THE PLATs: 
if Male flower vie ed fi e san f h 
W rom beneath. prs AW i I i 
he sa ne seen irom nga iS) Owing the manner in which the stamens are inserted 
into the centre of the eveat disk. 3. Ananther seen from behind, showing the insertion of the filament 
in front, and bursting. 5. Grains of pollen. 6. Female flower observed from above, exhibiting 
disk, and the single abortive stamen which always accompanies it. 
A. The same viewed 
the ovary in the centre of the 
7. Ovarium without the calyx, which is cut off. 8. A trans- 
verse section of the same: 9. One of the divisions of the style, with the bifid stigma at its end 
