Order 106. Euphorbiaccce. 301 



flowers, is known in every garden. It is a native of Mexico, and of 

 comparatively recent introduction into India. 



Aleurites molluccana, Belgaum walnut, Jdphal dlchrot : in the S. Sea 

 Islands it is called the candlenut tree, the kernels themselves burn- 

 ing brilliantly, and lampblack being also obtained from the shell of 

 the nut. In gardens, Bombay and Belgaum, and said, but apparently 

 without reason, to grow wild in the latter neighbourhood (D.)- 



Manihot utilissima, a South American plant, produces (from the 

 root) tapioca, and is grown in various places (e.g. Dapoli) with that 

 object. From the same root, by another mode of preparation, is made 

 the Cassava bread of Africa, and from another species Manioc. 



* Hura crepitans is given both by D. and 6?. (though probably not 

 common) as a garden tree. It is called the sand box tree ; the 

 capsules round, and consisting of many cocci, are in America boiled 

 in oil to prevent dehiscence, and then being emptied used as sand 

 b oxes. The milky juice is said to be very dangerous, and to produce 

 erysipelas (Le Maout). " The fruit is difficult to obtain even where 

 the tree is plentiful, because, hanging at the end of long branches, 

 it bursts when ripe with a crack like a pistol, scattering its seed 

 far and wide." Kingsley. 



ORDER 107. URTICACEJE. 



Leaves generally alternate and stipulate, often oblique, 

 generally rough with hairs, as the whole plant often is ; flowers 

 usually monoecious or direcious, minute, often crowded on a 

 fleshy involucre, perianth lobed ; stamens generally as many 

 as the perianth lobes, opposite to them, and inserted into the 

 base, anthers 2-celled, ovary superior. 



This, though not one of the largest, is a very important tropical 

 order, and the number of species found in India is very large. 

 Many of them are large and well-known trees, which makes the 

 common English name of the order, "the nettle family," not appro- 

 priate here. The flowers in this order are absolutely and perhaps 

 invariably without beauty. Its properties are very various, as will 

 be seen from the names of trees and plants given below. 



H. has the following tribes (here represented), all of which 

 have by different botanists been considered as separate orders, 

 but with distinctions so slight that except that tribes Nos. 4 

 and 5 have usually milky, and the others watery sap, I think 

 it better not to attempt to describe them. Tribe 6 alone is 

 obviously distinct from the rest. 



Tribe 1. Ulmea? Elms gen. Holoptelea. 



Tribe 2. Celtidese gen. Celtis and Trema. 



