604 cxxii. EUPiioitBiACT.E (brown). [Elcfopkorbia . 



5. EL^OPHORBIA, Stapf in Hook. Ic. PI. t. 2823. 



Floral structure exactly as in Eujohorhia^ from vvliich it only differs 

 by its fruit, as follows : Ovary (female tiovver) without a perianth. Fruit 

 fleshy, indehiscent, with a thick tiesh enclosing a hard bony 3-celled 

 eridocarp or "stone," marked with a slender groove down the back of 

 each cell and having a pore at the base and 3 pores near the apex 

 between the grooves. Seed .solitary in each cell of the " stone," some- 

 times 1 or 2 cells are abortive ; testa thin, crustaceous ; albumen copious, 

 somewhat fleshy ; cotyledons flat, thick and fleshy, elliptic, notched at 

 tlie base. — A tree, with succulent angular branches, becoming round 

 and woody with age. Leavt-s alternate, fleshy, entire, with a pair of 

 spines at their base. Peduncles axillary, simple or once forked. 



Species 1, enck'niic. 



1 . E. drupifera, Stapf in Hook. Ic. PL xxix. t. 2823. A tree 

 40-50 ft. high, witli milky juice. Young branches rather obscurely 

 4-G- (often a-) angled, fleshy, becoming cylindric and woody with age, 

 armed at the angles with pairs of spines. Leaves alternate at the 

 terminal part of the branches, thick and fleshy, glabrous, deciduous ; 

 petiole ^-|- in. long, stout ; blade ^!-8^ in. long, l^-''i in, broad, usually 

 elongated cuneate-oblong, sometimes obovate or cuneately obcordate, 

 obtusely rounded or occasionally (from injury ?) notched at the apex, 

 acutely and somewhat abruptly cuneate into the petiole from |-1 in. 

 above the base or gradually tapering into it, entire. Stipules a pair of 

 stout spines \-2 lin. long ; "these [continue to] grow after the leaf has 

 fallen and become very con.spicuous as the cicatrices are very plainly 

 marked" {Johnson) Peduncles usually 3 together, .sometimes solitary, 

 in the axils of the young leave.*^, i-I| in. long, simple or once forked, 

 with a sessile involucre in the fork and branches ^-1 in. long, moderately 

 stout, glabrous. Bracts opposite, close under the involucres, \-\ in. 

 long, \-\ in. broad, broadly ovate, acute or obtuse, concave, keeled down 

 the back, glabrous, with buds in their axils. Involucre shallowly cup- 

 like, about \ in. deep and |-r in. in diam., with T) transveisely oblong 

 entire spreading glands alternating with and outside of 5 erect trans- 

 verse lobes £-1 lin. long, 2-2^ lin. broad, minutely denticulate-ciliate 

 along the truncately rounded top, enclosing a dense cushion-like mai^s 

 of stamens (male flowers) and bracteole.s, with or without a cential 

 ovary (female flower). Practeoles variably connate below, cuneate or 

 irregular in form, variably toothed or cut, glabrous. Stamens without a 

 perianth, glabrous. Ovary erect, confluent with the stout pedicel, which 

 does not exceed the stamens, without a calyx, glabrous, its cells with 

 thick fleshy walls ; stigma subsessile, with 3 sliort spreading obtuse 

 channelled lobes. Fruit shortly ex.serted beyond the remains of the 

 stamens, varying in size from that of a cherry up to that of a walnut, 

 ellipsoid or subglobose, obtuse, fleshy, with a hard stony »)-celled endo- 

 carp, indehiscent. — Stapf in Johnston, Liberia, ii. G4(l. Euphorbia 

 dru)>ifera, Thonn. in Schum. ^t^ Thonn. Ikskr. (iuin. PI. 2r)0 ; Hoiss. 

 in DC. Prodr. xv. ii. >^0 ; Pax in Kni;l. .lainl). xxxiv. (IS ; Herger, Sukk 



