72 BixaceCB. \jErythrospermum. 



A moderate-sized tree, bark grey, young branches usually 

 armed with slender, axillary spines i^in. long, and the trunk 

 with large, woody, compound, branched spines ; 1. very variable, 

 1-3 in., on very short ped., oblong-oval or ovate, acute, rounded 

 or cordate at base, obtuse at apex, entire or faintly crenate,, 

 sub-coriaceous, glabrous ; fl, in lax, simple racemes shorter 

 than or as long as the leaves, ped. \-% in., slender, bracts 

 minute ; sep. and pet. 4-5 (usually 4) ; no disk ; fruit \ in., 

 ovoid, on a stalk \ in. long, strongly apiculate, fleshy, bright 

 red. 



Low country ; common up to 1 500 ft., both in moist and dry region. 

 Fl. June-September ; white. Fruit bright scarlet. 



Endemic. 



Willdenow's name S. pusilla has long priority, but was rejected by 

 Thwaites as being inapplicable to a tree. 



There is much variety in the form of the leaves, and Thwaites divides 

 the species into three varieties, oblotigif alius ^ cordifoliiis^ and lanceolatus, 

 which are not noticed in Fl. B. Ind. The formidable branched divaricate 

 spines on the trunk are very characteristic of this tree. 



2. ERVTHROSPERDIUM, Lam. 



Trees; fl. bisexual, in racemes; sep. 5, imbricate; pet. 5? 



stam. 5 ; ov. i -celled, with 3 parietal placentas, ovules few; 



fruit coriaceous, 3-valved ; seeds invested with a scarlet, pulpy 



aril, endosperm firm, embryo with a long, straight, blunt 



radicle. — Sp. 8 ; i in Fl. B. Ind. 



Six species are from Mascarene Islands, and one has been recently 

 found in the Malay Peninsula. 



S. phjrtolaccoides, Gardn. in Calc. Journ. Nat. Hist. v\\. 9(1846). 

 [Plate VI.] 



Herm. Mus. 67. Pectinea seylanica, Gaertn. Fruct. ii. 136. Thw. 

 Enum. 18. C. P. 468. 



Fl. B. Ind. i. 191. Gaertn. Fruct. ii. t. iii, f. 3. Bedd. Ic. t. 195. 



A small tree, 20-30 ft., young shoots glabrous ; 1. 4-7 in., 

 oval or lanceolate, shortly acuminate, acute, entire, glabrous 

 and shining, petiole f-i in.; fl. nearly h in. diam., numerous, 

 in racemes from the upper axils and ends of branches, ped. 

 ^ in., slender, bracts minute ; sep. oval, glabrous, pet. a little 

 longer, pilose at the base ; anth. sagittate ; ov. tapering, 

 glabrous ; fruit f-f in., nearly spherical, apiculate, rough, pale 

 reddish-purple, splitting tardily into 3 ovate valves ; seeds 1-6, 

 when solitary ovoid or globular, when more numerous flattened 

 from mutual pressure, enveloped in a brilliant, scarlet, pulpy 

 aril, testa hard, bluntly muriculate. 



Moist low country, rather rare. Between Balangoda and Palma- 



