Breynia.] CVIII: EUPHORBIACEJE. 113. 
18. BREYNIA, Forst. 
(Melanthesa, Blume ; Melanthesopsis, Muell. Arg.) 
| Flowers moneecious, axillary, solitary or few together. Male fl. : 
| ten anth GUIAS, fat topped, the small orifice in the centre almost 
| ioc mens 3, united in a central column, with-. 
ben any rudi Ant oe ovar ; ‘anthers 2-celled, adnate to the column, 
the cells parallel, opening "longitudinally in 2 valves. Female fl: 
= erianth turbinate or campanulate, with 6 very short lobes or teeth, 
. Sometimes minute or o Eis yu sessile Pn shortly  stipitate,. 
or nin a indehiscent doe, See iiis iN with a S EUR t inner 
angle and a curved back, the hilum small, de er end ag sie 
ranches slender, the foliage u usually pude not always drying black. 
aves alternate, ponp S usually broad, entire. Flowers small, on 
short oe cels. Fruits 
The genus is generally jid over tropical Asia and the Pacific islands. Of the 
four Adétralían species, one and perhaps two are also in the Indian Arc lago, the 
two others appear to be quite e Ah he genus is allied to the section Glochidion 
of Phyllanthus, but readily distinguished by the peculiar ma by the 
more baccate fruit. The section Mela opsis, with longer spreading divided styles, 
has not as etected in Australia. The seeds appear to me to sam 
both sections without anything that can be properly called an arillus. The hilum at 
thet um ery small, the -e cavity at the lower en e n 
. the inner and outer r coating of the se th of them crustaceous except at the lower 
end "T the imt where the outer one p membranous and wears away leaving a sma 
pening. 
Fruitin ng perianth spreading flat to a diameter of about 3 BM ul 1. B. cernua. 
2 lines d hort t or spreading on the 
E ous Styles very short erec P nt "^ i 
| Fruiting perianth scarcely enlarge d. 
Ovary and capsule more or less contracted into a stipes at the | 
base and crowned with three Lug surrounding the see 
e les 3. B. stipitata. 
vary and capsule sessile, the “ovary ‘tapering ‘at the e top, the 
capsule toes enly contracted into a beak . 4. B. rhynchocarpa. 
rnua, Muel in DC. Prod. xv. ii. 499. A glabrous. 
shrub, with the "end. rad orbicular leaves and the flowers of. 
B. stipitata, but the female perianth rather largor at the time of flower- 
ng, very shortly broadly and retusely 6-lobed, and when in fruit 
spreading out quite flat to the diameter of fully 3 lines. Capeule sessile, 
gi ihe without appendages, Kati Phe the very short styles.— 
Tene lanthesa c ua, Dene. Herb. Tim. Descr. 155. T hic 
The ecimens female flow 
T Apte NW. Cn 4 dcs an- which the capsule has Te fallen I 
D VOL. VI. 
