G42 rXTI. URTICACE.T!, 



1. Streblus asper, Low. Fl CocJihu-h. v. 2 (1790) p. 615. A small 

 rigid guarlecl tree with smooth grey bark and numerous interwoven 

 pubescent branchlets. Leaves l-3i by f— 1^ in,, elHpticor rhomboid, or 

 obovate, acute or acuminate, the margins more or less irregularly toothed 

 in the upper half, roughly scaberulous on both surfaces but especially 

 beneath ; main nerves 4-6 pairs ; petioles jt^—^ in. long ; stipules 

 obliquely lanceolate. Flowers dioecious, the males in shortly pedun- 

 culate globose heads, the females solitary on axillary usually fascicled 

 pedicels i in. long. Male flowees : Perianth campanulate ; sepals 4, 

 pubescent outside. Stamens 4. Female flowers: Pedicels slender, 

 thickened upwards. Sepals 4. Ovary straight ; style terminal, 2- 

 branched, the arms very long and slender. Fruit pisiform, laxly clothed 

 by the enlarged persistent perianth, yellow, edible. FI. B. I. v. 5, 

 p. 489; Bedd. For. Man. in Flor. Svlvat. p. ccxxi, & Anal. Gen. t. 26, 

 fig. 1 ; Talb. Trees, Bomb. ed. 2, p. 323 ; Woodr. in Journ. Bomb. Nat. 

 V. 12 (1899) p. 515; Prain, Beng. PI. p. 9B9 ; Watt, Diet. Econ. Prod. 

 V. 6, part 3, p. 373. Epicarpnrus orientalis, Blume, Bijdr. (1825) p. 488; 

 Dalz. & Gibs. p. 240; Wight, Icon. t. 1961.— Flowers : Jan.-Mar. 

 VEiiisr. Kharoti. 



Stocks without locality in Herb. Kew. ! Deccan: Nasik, BJiim ! S. M. CorNTRv: 

 Dharwar, Woodrow ; Belgaum, Ritchie, 1374 ! Kanaka : evergreen forests, Talbot. 

 Gujarat: Woodrow; Gorlra, Cookel; Balsar, Bhiva'. — Distrib. Drier parts of India; 

 Ceylon, Malay Islands, Cochincliina, China, Siam. 



Tlie rough leaves of the tree are used as sandpaper to poUsh wood and ivoi-y ; the 

 milky juice is used in native medicine and acts as a rennet, rapidly coagulating milk. 



15. PLECOSPERMUM, Trecul. 



Glabrous trees or shrubs. Leaves alternate, quite entire, penninerved. 

 Flowers dioecious, in axillary solitary or 2-3-nate pedunculate heads. 

 Male floavers bracteate. Perianth-lobes 4, concave, imbricate. 

 Stamens 4, inflexed in bud. Pistillode minute, hairy. Fkmale flowers : 

 Perianths fleshy, 4-toothed, connate into a fleshy head. Ovary straight, 

 included; ovule pendulous; style filiform, undivided. Fruit an irregularly- 

 shaped fleshy anthoearp, enclosing a few immersed coriaceous achenes 

 which are adnate to the perianths ; albumen ; embryo suhglobose ; one 

 cotyledon very large, fleshy , embracing the smaller one ; radicle upcurved. — 

 Distrib. Species 3, of which 1 is African, the other 2 Indian. 



1. Plecospermum spinosum, Trecul, in Ann. Sc. Nat. scr. 3, v. 8 

 (1847) p. 124. A large thorny shrub or small ti'ce ; branchlets drooping, 

 minutely pubescent ; spines stout, axillary, straight. Leaves 2-3 by 

 1-1 1 in., obovate or elliptic, obtuse or acute, glabrous, base narrowed 

 into the petiole ; nerves 4-6 pairs, slender ; petioles ^-^ in. long. 

 Flowers dioecious, in axillary solitary or fascicled heads. Male flowers : 

 Heads \ in. in diam. ; peduncles \ in. long, often fascicled ; flowers 

 distinct, minute, subsessile, pubescent ; bracteoles minute. Sepals 4, 

 obtuse or notched, pubescent. Stamens 4, long-exserted. Female 

 FLOWKRS : Heads larger than in the male; flowers connate in the heads. 

 Perianth 4-toothed. Fruit pubescent, lohed, .| in. in diam. Fl. B. I. 

 V. 5, p. 491 ; Bedd. For. Man. in Flor. Sylvat. p. ccxx, & Anal. Gen. 

 t. 26, fig. 2; Wight, Icon. t. 1963; Trim. Fl. Ceyl. v. 4, p. 103; Talb. 



