/ 



PlujUunthus. woNOECiA monadelphia. 657 



5. P. retusus, R. 



Sbriibby, tlioecous. Leaves obovate, cuneate, sub-retuse. 

 Flowers axillary, crowded ; male pentandrous. Calyces five- 

 leaved. Berries pendulous, pure white, six-seeded. 



A stout, ranious, shrubby species, a native of Bengal, in 

 flower and fruit, in all stages, the >vhole year. 



Trunk scarcely any thing distinct, that can be so called ; 

 but several woody, very ramous branches, rise from the root, 

 which spread in all directions; yoinuj s/(oo<a' ribbed ; and 

 void of pubescence. Leaves simple, alternate, short petioled, 

 obovate-cuueate, rounded at the apex, truncated, or retuse, 

 smooth on both sides, about an inch long-, and not so much 

 broad. Stipules obliquely triangular, withering-. Flowers 

 axillary, crowded, minute, pedicelled ; the males on one plant, 

 and females on another ; when the petals expand the pedicels 

 are considerably lengthened. Male calyx five-leaved ; leaj- 

 lets oval, concave. Filaments five, distinct, of the length of 

 the calyx, alternate with five nectarial scales round the three- 

 cleft, abortive pistil. Female calyx as in the male. Necta- 

 ry a slender membranaceous ring- round the base of the germ. 

 Geim round, three-celled, with two ovula in each, attached 

 to (he axis from the middle upwards. Style scarcely any. 

 Siiyma trifid, segments spreading-, cuneate, bidentate. Ber- 

 ries round, very pure white, smooth, of the size of a small pea, 

 succulent, three-celled. Seeds two in each cell, or in all six, 

 separated into pairs by pulpy partitions. Integuments two ; 

 the exterior one thin, and white; the inner onenuciforni,and 

 beautifully pitted. Embryo inverse, and curved like the 

 back of the seed. Cotyledons two, linear-oblong. Radicle 

 sub-cylindric, superior. 



It is at all times a handsome shrub, but when its numerous 

 pure white, pendulous berries are ripe, it then becomes par- 

 ticularly conspicuous. 



This as well as Phyllanthus virosus might better be refer- 

 red to Willdenow's Fluggea, see his edition of the Sp. PL iv. 

 p. 757. but according to what I have observed in his only 



VOL. III. *E 



