Elatostema.] cxxiiid. URTiCACEiE (Rendle). 283 



oblong, f lin. long ; inner bracts and bracteoles linear, green and 

 ciliate above, hyaline below, about 1 lin. long. Flowers shortly 

 stalked ; perianth divided to the base into 3 delicate lanceolate 

 shortly fimbriated segments, nearly as long as the ovary. Ovary 

 less than i lin. long ; stigma a dense tuft of hairs which exceed the 

 ovary in length. Achene not seen. — E. angusticuneatinn, Engl, in 

 Engl. Jahrb. xxxiii. 126, incl. var. Dusenii. 



Upper Ouinea. PYrnando Po, Mann, 1431 ! Camorooas : Johann Albrechts- 

 hoht\ Standi, 047 ! Preitsff, 103; Bigundi, *S'c^/ec/i<e/-, 12429 ! and without precise 

 locality, Dusen, 293. 



10. PROCRIS, Juss. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PI. iii. 386. 



Flowers monoecious or dicccious, the male in stalked axillary cymes 

 or clusters, the female crowded on a subglobose fleshy receptacle. 

 Male : Perianth 5- rarely 4-partite, segments membranous, valvate 

 or very slightly imbricate, without an appendage. Stamens 5, rarely 

 4. Ovary rudiment small. Female : Perianth very small, 3-4- 

 partite, persistent in fruit. Ovary erect ; stigma sessile, penicillate, 

 soon falling ; ovule erect from the base. Achene ovoid, alniost 

 covered by the enlarged fleshy perianth-segments or, in the African 

 species, surrounded at the base by the closely imbricate unaltered 

 segments ; pericarp stiffly membranous or somewhat hard. Seed 

 conforming to the pericarp ; testa thin ; albumen absent ; cotyle- 

 dons broadly elliptic— Succulent herbs or shrubs, often epiphytic. 

 Leaves alternate as in the last genus, shortly stalked, in two rows, 

 apex generally acuminate, base unequal, margin entire or slightly 

 serrate, penni'nerved. Stipules intrapetiolar, entire. Inflorescences 

 solitary or fascicled in the leaf-axils or at the nodes of fallen leaves. 



Species about 10, in tropical Asia, Africa, and Polynesia. 



1. P. wightiana, Wall. Cat. 4638 {yiame only) ; Wedd. Mojiogr. 

 Urtic. 336.— A succulent glabrous undershrub growing epiphytically, 

 generally on tree-trunks. Stem ascending, 8-16 in. high, sometimes 

 J-1 in. thick in the lower part, in the leafy part 2 lin. or less, cortex 

 brown, wrinkled when dry ; upper 2-3 in. leaf-bearing, with inter- 

 nodes 4-5 lin. long. Leaves thinly membranous when dry and 

 blackish green, obliquely oblanceolate, sometimes obovate-lanceolate, 

 acuminate, more or less tapering below to the unequal base which 

 narrows into the short stalk, distantly and shallowly crenate-serrate 

 above the middle, 3J-6 in. long, ^-2 in. wide ; lateral nerves 6-7 on 

 each side, ascending, cystoliths minute, inconspicuous, fusiform, 

 scattered ; a small undeveloped leaf is sometimes present opposite 

 or alternating with the normal leaves ; petiole slender, 1-H bn. long. 

 Stipules obovate-triangular, obtuse, about h lin. long. Flowers 

 green, all iu few-flowered stalked or subscssile clusters which are 



