P/iyllanihus.] EuphorbiacecB . 23 



Low country ; common. Var, /3, montane zone, 3-7CKX) ft., on patanas ; 

 common. Fl. Jan.-Aug. 



The type throughout Trop. Asia, var. ^ in S. India. 



Var. /3 should perhaps be considered specifically distinct, as by Wight 

 and Thwaites. It is sometimes pilose (var. pubescens, Thw.). At the 

 higher elevations occurs a form with very small, stiff, rotundate leaves. 



A very variable plant in habit. The leaves readily disarticulate, and 

 the lower parts of the stems are usually bare. 



10. P. Niruri,* L. Sp. PL 981 (1753). Pitawakka, S. Kil- 

 kaynelll, T. 



Herm. Mus. ii. Burm. Thes. 230. Moon, Cat. 65. Thw. Enum. 

 282. C. P. 2136, 2138. 



Fl. B. Ind. V. 298. Burm. Thes. t. 93, f. 2, Wight, Ic. t. 1894. 



Annual herb, 1-2 ft; stem often branched at base, angular, 

 glabrous; l.-bearing branchlets slender, spreading; 1. nu- 

 merous, crowded, distichous, somewhat imbricated, spreading, 

 nearly sessile, \-\ in., oblong-oval, obtuse, thin, pale beneath; 

 stip. very acute ; male fl. very minute, often 2 or 3 together, 

 fem, much larger, solitary; male fl.: — sep. rounded; stam. 3; 

 fem. fl.: — sep. oval, subacute, with broad white margins; fr. 

 very small, tV-tV i"., depressed-globose, faintly 3-lobed, quite 

 smooth ; seeds with slender ribs. 



Low country, in waste and cultivated ground ; a common weed. Fl. 

 all the year; yellowish. 



Tropics generally, except in Australia. 

 A diuretic. 



11. P. rotundifolius, Klein in Willd. Sp. PL iv..584 (1805). 

 Thw. Enum. 282. C. P. 2134. 



Fl. B. Ind. v. 299. 



Annual, with a long tap-root ; stems numerous, prostrate, 

 long, spreading, rigid, branched, glabrous ; 1. very small, \-\ in., 

 on short petioles, more or less rotundate, often apiculate, 

 thick, veins not visible, glaucous; stip. lanceolate, acuminate; 

 fl. solitary, on very short ped., male minute, fem. larger; sep. 

 broadly oblong, obtuse, with broad white margins ; fr. very 

 small, about yo in-> depressed-globose, scarcely 3-lobed, gla- 

 brous ; seeds with slender ribs. 



Sandy seashores ; very rare. Batticaloa (Gardner) ; Trincomalie 

 (Glenie). Fl. March, &c. 



India, Arabia, Trop. Africa. 



12. P. Baillonianus, MuelL Arg. in Limtcsa, xxxii. 47 (1863). 

 Episfy/iufn latifolium, Thw. Enum. 283 (excl. Syn.). E. cordifolium^ 



Baill. Et. Euph. 648. 

 Fl. B. Ind. V. 300. 



* Linnaeus took this from a W. Indian name for the plant. 



