268 FLORA OF CENTRAL MADAGASCAR. 



ovate, membranous, acute, 1-1 i in. long, deeply serrated above the 

 entire deltoid base, green and slightly bristly on both surfaces. 

 Flowers in small (monoicous) sessile clusters in the axils of the 

 upper leaves. Female perianth with 3 unequal bristly segments, 

 the largest oblong, obtuse, as long as the achene. Achene ovoid, 

 flattened, slightly oblique, pale brown, ^in. long. — Mossy banks in 

 woods of East Betsileo, flowering in December and January, Baron 

 117 ! Near the Tropical Ah'ican P. tetraphijlla, Blume. 



Croton {Eucroton) myriaster, n. sp. — A shrub, with slender 

 terete woody branchlets, rugose, with pale brown tomentum. 

 Leaves alternate ; stipules setaceous, deciduous ; petiole ^f in. ; 

 blade ovate or oblong-lanceolate, acute, 2-3 in. long, moderately 

 firm in texture, green, with very copious minute tufts of stellate 

 hairs above, drab and softly pilose beneath, copiously penninerved, 

 furnished with a pair of small sessile blackish patell^form glands 

 at the base. Flowers in a short simple erect terminal raceme, 

 with a densely tomentose axis, many males, about 2 females ; 

 bracts minute, linear or lanceolate. Male calyx campanulate, 

 ^ in. diam., with 5 deltoid lobes reaching down nearly to the base, 

 densely brown-tomentose on the outside, 5 small petals and about 

 12 stamens, with filaments twice as long as the anthers. Female 

 flowers with 5 tomentose brown sepals ^ in. long, no petals, and a 

 densely brown-hispid ovary ^ in. diam., with several branches to 

 each of the styles. — Forests of East Betsileo, Baron 223 ! Native 

 name Monyiyadna. A near ally of C. tUimfolius, Lam., and C. 

 lacciferus, L. 



Croton {Eucroton) platanifolius, n. sp. — A shrub, with slender 

 woody terete branchlets, rough towards the top, with pale brown 

 tomentum. Leaves alternate ; petiole 2-3 in. long ; blade cordate- 

 orbicular, with a pair of stalked glands at the base, 4-6 in. long 

 and broad, with 3-5 shallow deltoid lobes, moderately firm in 

 texture, green and obscurely pilose or minute spots on the upper 

 surface, densely coated with soft light drab pubescence beneath. 

 Flowers in shortly-peduncled racemes ^ ft. long, several from a 

 node, very numerous male and only 1-2 females ; pedicels erecto- 

 patent, finally longer than the flowers ; bracts small, subulate, 

 tomentose, deciduous. Male flower ^-^ in. diam. when expanded, 

 with 5 deltoid sepals, densely clothed with brown tomentum 

 outside, 5 whitish obovate pilose petals of the same length, and 

 about 20 stamens. Female flower with 5 spreading coriaceous 

 sepals -^ in. long, no petals, a globose densely brown-hispid ovary 

 I in. diam., and copiously-branched black spirally-twisted stigmas. 

 — Edges of woods in East Betsileo, Baron 262 ! An ally of the 

 last species. 



Aloe Salmudra, Bojer, Hort. Maur. 345 ? — Leaves not seen. 

 Flowers in a dense simple spike 6-8 in. long, 1:^ in. diam. when 

 expanded, on a peduncle longer than itself, with several empty 

 bracts. Bracts orbicular-cuspidate, ^-h in. long and broad, with 

 8-10 close green ribs in the brick-red centre, aud a broad mem- 

 branous border. Perianth sessile, yellow, polyphyllous, ^| in. 

 long ; segments oblanceolate, obtuse, with about 3 distinct brown 



