632 cxxii. EUPnoRBiACEiE (HUTCHINSON). [Actephila. 



18. ACTEPHILA, Blume ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PI. iii. 260. 



Flowers monoecious or dioecious. Petals present. Male flowers: 

 Sepals 5-6, imbricate. Petals 5-6, scale-like. Disk entire in the 

 solitary African species. Stamens 3-6, inserted within the disk ; 

 lilaments shortly connate at the base ; anthers thick, dehiscing longi- 

 tudinally. Rudimentary ovary tnlobed. Female flowers : Sepals and 

 petals as in the male. Ovary 3-celled ; styles short, free or connate at 

 the base, undivided or bifid ; ovules 2 in each cell. Capsule slightly 

 woodv, dehiscing loculicidally into 3 two-valved cocci. Seeds often 

 solitary in each cell, large, testa thin ; albumen very scanty or absent ; 

 cotyledons thick, fleshy, often much dilated, plicate or contorted-plicate. 

 — Trees or shrubs. Leaves alternate, petiolate, often large, entire. 

 Flowers glomerate in the axils of the leaves ; males numerous, shortly 

 pedicellate ; females solitary or few, long-pedicellate. 



Species about 14, from ludiii, Malay Archipelago, and Australia. 



1. A. reticulata, Pax in Engl. Jahrh. xxvi. 326. A small tree, 

 about 3U ft. high. Leaves oblong or elliptic, caudate-acuminate, more 

 or less rounded at the base, 4J-7 in. long, 2-3J in. broad, entire, very 

 thinly coriaceous, glabrous and slightly shining on both surfaces, acumen 

 ^-Ij in. long; lateral nerves 5-8, arcuate, raised on the lower surface; 

 tertiary nerves subparallel, close and prominent ; petiole glabrous, 

 transversely rugose, 3-4 lin. long ; stipules subulate from a triangular 

 base. Flowers monoecious, in axillary fascicles, the females very few ; 

 pedicels slender, up to 2 lin. long, glabrous or puberulous. Male 

 flowers : Sepals obovate or obovate-elliptic, 1 lin. long, | lin. broad, 

 rounded at the apex, coriaceous, with slightly hyaline margins. Petals 

 fiuborbicular, slightly toothed, J the length of the sepals. Disk small, 

 annular, entire, glabrous. Stamens 5-G ; filaments shortly connate at 

 the base, inserted within the disk ; anthers 1 lin. long. Rudimentary 

 ovary tripartite, reaching almost as high as the top of the anthers, 

 glabrous, lobes truncate. Female flowers : Sepals, petals and disk as in 

 the male. Ovary ovoid. Capsule trilobed, about 5 lin. in diam., with 

 2 brown shining seeds in each cell — Pentahrachion 7^eticulatum, Miill. 

 Arg. in Flora, 1864, 533, and in DC. Prodr. xv. ii. 224. Microdesmis 

 reticulata, Benth. & Hook. f. ex Pax in Engl. Jahrb. xxvi, 326. 

 Ama7ioa laurifolia, Pax, I.e. xv. 522. Actephila ojricana, Pax in Engl, k 

 Prantl, Pflanzenfam, Nachtr. i. 210, name only. 



Upper Guinea. Cameroons : Kipinde, Ze»A-er,844 ! 865 ! 934 ! 1124! 1688! 

 2337 ! 2888 ! 2982 ! 3448 ! 3497 ! 3869 ! Great liatanga, lUnklage, 572 ! 



Xiower Guinea. Gaboon: Gaboon River, Mann, 944! Klaine, 639! 986! 

 Sibauge Farm, Soyaux, 79 ! Biitiner, 291 ! Dinklage, 572 ! Agoncho, Buchholz ! 



11). ANDRACHNE, Linn. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PI. iii. 270. 



Flowers monoecious. Petals piesent in the African species. Male 

 flowers : Sepals 5-6, imbricate. Petals membranous. Disk consisting 



