482 c. nyctagixack.t:. 



2. PISONIA, Linn. 



Trees or shrubs unarmed or with axilhiry spines. Leaves opposite or 

 alternate, entire. Flowers small, usually dioecious, in i)aniculate sub- 

 sessile or pedunculate cymes ; bracteoles 2-3, not involucrate. Male 

 TLOAVEHS : Perianth campanulate ; limb 5-lobed or 5-toothed, the 

 segments induplicato-valvate. Stamens 6-10, exserted ; filaments con- 

 nate below into a tube or ring ; anthers oblong or didymous. Female 

 TLOWEES : Perianth tubular, usually enlarged at the base. Ovary elon- 

 gate, ovoid, sessile ; ovule solitary ; style included or exserted ; stigma 

 eapitellate, peltate or lacerate. Fruit oylindric, compressed, or 5-angled, 

 with 5 viscid ribs or with rows of viscid stipitate glands ; utricle elongate, 

 membranous. Seed with a hyaline testa adnate to the pericarp ; embryo 

 straight ; albumen scanty, soft ; radicle ini'exnor. — Distib. Species GO, 

 all tropical. 



1. Pisonia aculeata, imn. Sj^. PI. (1753) p. 1026. A large 

 scandent shrub with many curved axillary nearly opposite sharp stout 

 spines; trunk reaching 6 in. in diam. ; branches numerous, subopposite, 

 terete, slightly striate, finely pubescent or nearly glabrous. Leaves 1-3 

 by 2~ii ill') elliptic or elliptic-lanceolate, obtuse, entire, glabrous or 

 nearly so, base tapering ; petioles J— ^ in. long. Flowers in small dense 

 cymose pubescent clusters, combined into small pedunculate axillary 

 panicles ; bracts and bracteoles scarcely ^V "i- ^f^"?? ovate-oblon<r, 

 obtuse, hairy ; pedicels short, pubescent, the fruiting pedicels much 

 elongated. Male flowebs : Perianth campanulate, ,J^ in. long, pubes- 

 cent outside, and with 5 deep triangular acute teeth. Stamens 6-10, 

 much exserted. Female elowers : Perianth tubular, yL in. long, 

 shortly 5-toothed ; style rather stout; stigma lacerate. Fruit oblong 

 or clavate, with long pedicels, 5-ribbed, pubescent between the ribs, 

 each rib muricate with 1 or 2 vertical rows of stalked viscous glands. 

 Fl. B. I. V. 4, p. 711 ; Grab. Cat. p. 167 ; Wight, Icon. tt. 1763-176-1 ; 

 Trim. Fl. Ceyl. v. 3, p. 391 ; Talb. Trees, Bomb. ed. 2, p. 275 ; Watt, 

 Diet. Econ. Prod. v. 6, part 1, p. 263. — Flowers : Jan. -Mar. 



Eare. Bahell witliout locality in Herb. Kew. ! Konkan : Law ! Kanara : near 

 Bumvasi (Sirsi subdivision of N. Kanara), Talbot — Di.sTiun. India (cuast forests of 

 13irnia, tlie Andaman Islands, W. Peninsula) ; Ceylon, Tropical Asia, Africa, Australia, 

 and America. 



Pisonia morindifoUa, E. Br. in AVall. Cat. (1828) 7130. A large 

 branched unarmed shrub or small tree, found sparingly in the Andamans 

 and the Malay Islands, known to Anglo-Indians as the Lettuce Tree. 

 Leaves lettuce-green, the young ones almost white. Grown in tubs 

 about bungalows in ]?ombay. The leaves of the male plant arc of a 

 darker green than those of the female, which latter is therefore the more 

 commonly cultivated. Dal/. & Gibs. Suppl. p. 72 ; AVight, Icon. v. 5, 

 part 2, p. 1, t. 1765 (name in the plate curiously misspelt); Trim. Fl. 

 Ceyl. V. 3, p. 3!'2; Woodr. Gard. in Ind. ed. 5, p. 425. Pisonia alba, 

 Spanog. in Linntca, v. 15 (1841) p. 342; Hook. f. Fl. B. I. v. 4, p. 711 ; 

 Talb. Trees, Bomb. ed. 2, p. 276; Woodr. in Journ. Bomb. Nat. v. 12 

 (1899) p. 363; AVatt, Diet. Econ. Prod. v. (i. part 1, p. 26^.— Veun. 

 Chinai-salit. 



