584 cxv. EUPHORBiACB-a:. 



p. 34; Talb. Trees, Bomb. ed. 2, p. 303; Woodr. in Journ. Bomb. Nat. 

 V. 12 (1899) p. 370 ; Praiii, Beng. PI. p. 933; AValt, Diet. Ecou. Prod. 

 V. 1, p. 534. Phi/Ilanthus Vitis-Idcea, Eoxb. PI. Ind. v. 3, p. 665 ; Grab. 

 Cat, p. ISO. Melanthesa rlicimnoides, Blume, Bijdr. (1825) ]). 591 ; 

 VViglit, Icon. t. 1898.— Flowers : Apr .-June. 



Konkan: Talbot. Kanaka: Talbot; Devimana, Woodrow I — Tliroiigliout Trnpieal 

 India ; Ceylon, China, Malay Islands, Philippines. 



11. PHYLLANTHUS, Liun. 



Herbs, sbrubs, or trees. Leaves bii'arioiis or distichous, alternate, 

 entire, the branchlets with their leaves often resembling pinnaie leaves ; 

 stipules usually narrow or 0. Flowers small, monoecious (dioecious iu 

 P. iadkus), axillary or on old nodes ; males usually many, fascicled, 

 subsessile or pedicellate, rarely few or solitary ; females in the same or 

 distinct axils with longer pedicels, solitary or few. Perianth simple. 

 Male floavees : Sepals 4-6, free or very shortly connate, imbricate and 

 more or less 2-seriate. Disk glandular (rarely 0). Stamens 3 (rarely 

 4 or 5), iu the centre of the flower : filaments free or connate ; anthers 

 2-celled, oblong or didymous (rarely reniform), the cells parallel or 

 diverging ; dehiscence extrorse, vertical or transverse. Pistillode 0. 

 Female floweks : Sepals as in the male. Petals 0. Ovary usually 

 3-celled ; ovules 2 in each cell ; styles free or connate, usually 2-fid, 

 with slender arms (rarely dilated). Fruit of 3 crustaceous or coriaceous 

 (rarely bony) 2-valved cocci with or without a separable coriaceous 

 (rarely fleshy) epicarp, sometimes a 4-celled berry or a drupe with a 

 3-4-celled bony endocarp. Seeds 3-gonous ; testa crustaceous ; hilum 

 without a strophiule ; albiunen fiesliy ; cotyledons flat or flexuous. — 

 DiSTKiB. Species about 400, iu all warm countries. 



Sepals 5-G in bolli sexes ; stamens 5 or 3 ; styles 3 ; 

 ilowers rnouoecious. 



Stamens o in 2 series, the 3 inner filaments connate... 1. P. rcticulatu)>. 

 Stamens 3 ; filaments united in a long or short 

 colunni, rarely free and recnrved. 



Anthers erect ; slits vertical ; connective usually 

 produced. 



Fruit large, Ilesliy, with 3 bony 2-valved 

 cocci ; disk absent in male flowers ; styles 



united below, twice 2-fid ; a tree 2. P. Ei/t/dica. 



Fruit a capsule of 3 crustaceous 2-valved 

 cocci ; disk present in male and female 

 Ilowers ; styles once 2-fid, free. 



A shrub ; stipules minute, setaceous ... 3. P. LaU'ii. 

 Herbs ; stipules peltate. 



Leaves scattered, cuneate-obovate ; 



capsules smooth 4. P. maderaspatensis. 



Leaves close-set, distichously im- 

 bricating, oblong or linear-oblong ; 



capsides echinato 5. P. Urinaria. 



Anthers didymous or reniform, the cells sub- 

 globose ; slits very sliort, so that when the 

 cells are confluent tbc delii!=cence seems trans- 

 verso; fruit a capsule; styles once 2-Cd, free 

 or connate. 



Stipules peltate G. P. simplex. 



