48 Euphorbiacece. \Croton. 



A shrub or small tree ; bark smooth, pale grey ; young 

 parts rough with harsh stellate hairs ; 1. 2i-4 in., ovate, rounded 

 or subcordate at base, shortly attenuate, acute, irregularly and 

 shallowly crenate-serrate, slightly rough and with few distant 

 stellate hairs above, much more so especially on veins beneath, 

 pair of glands at base small, circular, peltate; petiole |-ii in., 

 rough; fl. numerous, on short ped, ; sep. acute, stellate-hairy; 

 male fl. : — pet. ovate, bordered with white hair; stam. about 30; 

 disk with long white hair ; fem. fl. : — styles split almost to 

 base into very long filiform branches ; fr. under \ in., nearly 

 globose, barely 3-lobed, rough with scanty, short, stellate 

 hair. 



\'ar. /3, lacciferus, Trim. Keppetija, Gas-keppetlya, S. 



Herm. Mus. n^, 46. Burm. Thes. 201. F'l. Zeyl. n. 344. C. lacci- 

 ferus, L. Sp. PI. 1005; Moon, Cat. 65; Thw. Enum. 275. Muell. Arg. 

 1. c. 588. C. P. 21 17. 



Burm. Thes. t. 91. Wight, Ic. t. 191 5. 



Larger, young parts almost villous, with yellowish hair; 

 1. larger and broader, hairy on both sides, woolly beneath, 

 with simple longer hairs mixed with stellate ones ; stip. 

 smaller, filiform; stam. 20 or less; disk slightly hairy; fr. 

 more densely hairy; seeds ovoid, smooth, dark-brown. 



Low country, the type principally in the dry region ; common. Var. 

 /? chiefly in the moist region, up to 3000 ft. ; very common. Fl. Aug.- 

 Nov. ; greenish-white. 



Also in S. India. 



The Fl. B. Ind. does not distinguish C. laccifertcs; but it is easily 

 recognisable, and at least a marked variety, if not a species. 



The leaves when withering turn a bright brick-red colour ; they are 

 very slightly aromatic. 



A small red coccid occurs on the bark of the older trees, and is col- 

 lected in districts where it is abundant to mix with the colours used in 

 lacquer work. This lac is collected in the dry seasons near Matale for 

 the Kandyan lacquer-industry. It is melted in a metal pot over a fire, 

 and is then called Keppitiya Resin. 



4. C. caudatus, Geisel. Crot. Monogr. 72) ('807). 

 Muell. Arg. 1. c. 599. 

 Fl. B. Ind. V. 388. 



Very like C. aromaticus, but semi-scandcnt, with long hori- 

 zontal branchlets ; 1. 3-4 in., cordate at base, acute, taintly and 

 irregularly serrate, stellate-hairy beneath when young, after- 

 wards glabrous; racemes very long, slender; fl. stalked, bracts 

 setaceous; sep. densely .stellate-hairy ; stam. 18-30, fil. very 

 hairy below; fr. (not seen) ' ;^-i in, globose or broadly oval, 

 Avoody, scabidly pubescent, 6-valved.' 



Dry region ; rare. Koddryar, near Trincomalie. Specimens from 

 Walker without locality are also referable to this ; Muell. Arg. gives 



