cx"v. euphorbiacejB. 621 



acute, pubescent, y^-yV iu- long. Male flowees : Sepals 3, broadly 

 elliptic, concave, glabrous, often apiculate, g in. long. Female eloavers : 

 Sepals narrow, ovate-lanceolate, acute, ^-'^ in. long, pubesceut. Styles 

 yV ill- lougi plumose. Capsules -^ in. in diam., globose, boary. Seeds jL 

 in. long, rounded on the back, slightly angular on the inner face, yellow. 

 Fl. B. I. V. 5, p. 456: Bedd. For. Man. in Flor. Sylvat. p. ccxii ; 

 Woodr. in Journ. Bomb. Nat. v. 12 (1899) p. 372. AdcUa retitsa. 

 Grab. Cat. PI. Bo. (1839) p. 185 ; Dalz. & Gibs. p. 231.— Flowers : Apr. 

 Vern. Machim. 



Dalzell without locality in Hei'b. Kevv ! Konkan : Stocksl, Lambert \ Deccan: 

 in river-beds, Woodrow ; Mula Eiyer, Tvirkee, Cooke !, Kaiiitkar ! Kanaka : Law ; 

 Supa (N. Kanara), Talbot ! — Distrib. India (W. Peninsula), apparently endemic. 



34. TRAGIA. 



Perennial, usually twining or clindjing berbs, liispid witb stinging 

 hairs. Leaves alternate, simple or palmately 3-lobed, serrate, 3-5- 

 nerved at the base. Flowers monoecious, in terminal and leaf-opposed 

 androgynous racemes, the males uppermost in the raceme the females 

 below, few. Perianth simple. Male flowers : Calyx globose or 

 obovoid, \alvalely 3-5-partite. Petals 0. Disk or obscure. Stamens 

 1-3 (rarely many) ; filaments free or connate ; anthers o\ate or oblong, 

 the cells contiguous, parallel. Pistillode minute, 3-fid or 0. Female 

 flowers: Sepals 6, imbricate, entire or pinnatifid, often eidarged 

 hardened and stellately spreading in fruit. Petals 0. Disk 0. Ovary 

 3-celled ; ovule 1 in each cell ; styles united in a column at the base, 

 free, spreading and entire above. Fruit a capsule of three 2-valved 

 cocci ; endocarp crustaceous. Seeds globose ; testa crustaceous ; albu- 

 men fleshy ; cotyledo]JS broad, flat. — Distrib. Species about 50, chiefly 

 tropical. 



A twining lierb ; leaves simple ; styles circinately revolute ... 1. T. involucrafa. 

 An erect or sometimes climbing herb ; leaves palmately 



3-partite; styles slightly spreading, not revolute 2. T. cannahina. 



1. Tragia involucrata, Linn. Sp. PI. (1753) p. 980. A perennial 

 more or less hispid herb, with scattered stinging hairs ; stems elongate, 

 slender, twining. Leaves 1-4 by '^-2 in., variable, oblong- lanceolate 

 to broadly ovate, acuminate, serrate, hairy, base rounded or cordate ; 

 petioles §-§ in. long ; stipides \ in. long, ovate, acute, somewhat 

 auricled at the base. Flowers shortly pedicellate, in terminal axillary 

 and leaf-opposed usually hairy racemes 1-2 in. long, the males in the 

 upper part, yellowish, the females few (rarely many) in the lower part 

 of the raceme; bracts J^ in. long, lanceolate, acute. Male flowers: 

 Sepals 3, broadly elliptic or orbicular, concave, ^^ in. long, glabrous. 

 Stamens 3. Pistillode small, 3-fid. Female flowers : Sepals 6, ovate, 

 pinnatifid, very hispid, ^ in. long, much elongating and becoming rigid 

 in fruit. Ovary 3-lobed, hispid ; styles 3, circinately revolute, united 

 below in a stout cylindric column often as long as the branches. 

 Capsules 3 in. in diam., 3-lobed, white, more or less hispid. Seeds 

 globose, smooth. Fl. B. I. v. 5, p. 465 ; Grab. Cat. p. 186 ; Dalz. & 

 Gibs. p. 228 ; Trim. Fl. Ceyl. v. 4, p. 61 ; Woodr. in Journ. Bomb. 

 Nat. y. 12 (1899) p. 372 ; Prain, Beug. PI. p. 952 ; Watt, Diet. Econ. 



