Plecospermum.'] UrticacCiS. IO3 



anth. 4-fid, lobes concave, imbricate ; stam. 4, fil. inflexed in 

 bud ; pistillode minute ; fem. fl. : — perianth tubular, un- 

 equally obtusely 4-lobed ; ov. sessile, straight, style filiform, 

 long, simple or with a short lateral arm, ovule pendulous ; 

 achenes in globose heads, oblique, enclosed in the perianth, 

 style subterminal, pericarp coriaceous ; seed subglobose, endo- 

 sperm o, cotyledons broad, crumpled, radicle ascending. — Sp. 

 2 or 3 ; I in Fl. B. hid. \^ 



A. zeylanicus, Thw. in Kew Joiirn. Bot. vi. 303 (1854). 

 Alandu, 6^. 



Thw. Enum. 263. Bureau in DC. Prod. xvii. 223. C. P. 2215. 



Fl. B. Ind. V. 490. Kew Journ. Bot. vi. t. 9 B. Bedd. Fl. Sylv. t. 305. 



A tree 30-40 ft, brahchlets terete, hairy ; 1. 3-4 in., 

 distichous, lanceolate, acuminate, base cordate, serrate, 

 sparsely hairy, veins 12-14 pairs; petiole | in. pubescent; stip. 

 obliquely oblong, mucronate, striate; male spikes (or recepts.) 

 \-2\ in., pubescent, densely clothed with minute fl., except 

 along a narrow canal-like passage ; peduncle about \ in. ; 

 fem. heads \ in. diam., compact, bracteoles crowned with 

 broad warted green pubescent tops ; tips of perianth lobes 

 pubescent. 



Moist region 1-2000 ft. ; rather rare. Peradeniya, Maturata. Fl. 

 Feb., August ; yellowish. 

 Endemic. 

 The inner bark yields a very tough fibre. 



14. PZiSCOSPERMUM, Trecid. 



Trees or shrubs, spinous or not; 1. alt, penniveined, entire; 

 stip. minute; fl. dioecious, in globose axillary peduncled heads, 

 male closely packed but distinct, bracteolate, fem. confluent 

 by their fleshy perianths into a many-celled anthocarp ; male 

 fl. : — perianth 4-lobed, lobes imbricate, emarginate ; stam. 

 4, fil. inflexed in bud; pistillode slender, pubescent; fem. 

 fl. : — perianth 4-toothed ; ov. straight, style filiform, undivided, 

 ovule pendulous; fr. a globose fleshy anthocarp, enclosing a 

 few globose immersed seeds, endosperm o, cotyledons very 

 unequal, the larger fleshy enclosing the folded smaller, radicle 

 short, upcurved. — Sp. 3 ; 2 in Fl. B. Ind. 



P. spinosum, Tree, in Attn. Sc. Nat. ser. 3, viii. 124 (1847). XLatu- 

 timbol, 5. 



Tropins spinosa, Heyne, Moon, Cat. 68. Thw. Enum. 263. C. P. 2212. 

 Fl. B. Ind. V. 491. Wight, Ic. t. 1963. Bedd. Fl. Sylv. t. anal. 26, f. 2. 



