674 cxxii. EUPHOIIBIACBJ2 (hutchinson). [Drypetes. 



20. DBYPETES, Vahl ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PI. iii. 278. 



Flowers flicecious. Petals absent. Male Howeis : Buds often 

 globose. Sepals 4 or 5, broad, imbricate, usually coriaceous. Stamen.s 

 8- 00 , inserted around and at the base of a central flat concave or 

 rarely cupular disk ; filaments free ; anthers erect, often large, cells 

 parallel and dehiscing longitudinally. lludiu)entary ovary not present 

 or represented by a small conical production in the middle of the disk. 

 Female flowers : Calyx as in the male. Disk hypogynous, annular or 

 cupular. Ovary 1-4-celled ; styles short or absent ; stigmas thick, 

 flattened, bifid or undivided and more or less reniform ; ovules 2 in 

 each cell. Fruits globose, ellipsoid or ovoid, indehiscent ; pericarp 

 thick, woody, 1-1-celled. Seeds solitary by abortion ; albumen fleshy ; 

 embryo straight ; cotyledons flat and broad. — Trees or shrubs ; leaves 

 alternate, coriaceous or chartaceous, entire or toothed ; stipules caducous, 

 rnrely persiste;it. Male and female flowers fasciculate in the axils 

 of the leaves, or produced on the older branches or the stem, usually 

 pedicellate. 



Over 70 speiics, cliicHy in tlie Old-WorUl Troi)ics, a few in tlie West Indies and 

 South America. 



Like Haillon, I lave been nnsible to sei)arate the Old-World genus Cyclostemon, 

 Blume (1825), fion> Uie New-World Drii2)etes, Vahl (1807). J. Miiller in De Candolle's 

 Prodronins placed the former in tlie snbtribe Ct^cIostfmoneiT, cAVm^ the central body 

 in the male flowtM- :i ''disk," whilst the latter he placed in the subtribe Seciirinegece, 

 with the central b.dy in the male flower desi>,''nat d " rudimentary ovary." I'liis 

 central body in each so-c;.lled genus, liowevei, is idtnticul in form and structure, and 

 is usually a llaL tlesliv, <ir more rarely cupular disk, with or mostly without a small 

 concave production in the n.idcile wbicli, as ])ointed out by liaillon, could scarcely be 

 looked upon as a rudimenlary ovary. 'Ibe staniens in the American species of Drypetes 

 are mostly eitber the same or double the number of the scpitls, but tbis is also the 

 case in many of those from Afiica, and this character, if used to re-establisb the two 

 fjenera, would proiliue (piite ambijj^nons n suits. It might also be ])ointcd out that an 

 unnamed specimen of an ajiparently undescribed species, collected by Olaziou at Rio 

 Janeiio, which, from the number of stamens and the locality, would be ))laced in 

 Drypetes, although nut the sanu-, might easily be mistaken for Cyclostemon Principtim, 

 Miill. .Arg., from the Cameroons. 



As many species of Drypetes have a 1-celled ovary, Sihangea, Oliv., which was 

 distinguisljcd fiom Cyclostemon by this character, 'must tlierefore be also included. 

 Stipules laciniate, jjcrsistent or subpersisleut. 



Stipules 0-4 in. long ; sepals of female 4 . . .1. D. laciniata.' 



Stipules about ^ in. long ; sepals of female 5 . . 2. D. verrucosa. 



Stipules entiie or rarely slightly toothed. 



Stipules large, imbricate, foliaceous, 1^-2 in. long, 



I in. broad 3. D. magnistipula. 



Stipules smaller, not imbricate, usually less than |- in. 

 long and 5 in. broad. 

 ♦Flowers fasciculate in the leaf-axils of the young 

 shoots. 

 fLeaves with entire or slightly undulate margins. 

 Stipules conspicuous, subpersistent, ovate or 

 lanceolate, ^— f in- long. 

 Stipules J in. long . • . . . 4, 2). Mildbradii, 



