818 cxxii. KUPHORBiACE^ (prain). [Grossera. 



contorted-imbricate, wide-ovate. Stamens 3-seriate, 5 to each whorl, 

 on an elongated glabrous receptacle with 2-3 central and terminal; 

 base of receptacle surrounded by 5 extra-staminal glands resembling 

 sessile much-modifi6d anthers, alternate with stamens of lowest whorl 

 and with the petals. Female panicles like the males but with tertiary 

 branchlets bearing each a solitary flower, its pedicel ultiniately f in. 

 long. Calyx-lobes imbricate. Petals narrow-oblong, much exceeding 

 the calyx-lobes. Ovary glabrous ; styles at length spreading, 2-partite 

 to the middle. Capsule not seen. 



upper Guinea. Cauieroons : Bipinde, Zenker, 1805 ! 3377 ! 3684 ! 4227 ! 



Very nearly allied to O. paniculata. Pax, but readily distinguished by its 

 larger tiowers witb fewer stamens. 



45. MANNIOPHYTON, Mull. Arg. ; Benth. et Hook. f. 

 Gen. PI. iii. 297. 



Flowers dioecious. Petals present. Male flower : Calyx globose and 

 closed in bud, opening valvately and irregularly. Petals connate. 

 Disk-glands 5, pilose, alternating with the outer stamens and petals. 

 Stamens 1 5-25, inserted on a pilose convex receptacle ; filaments free ; 

 anthers erect ; cells parallel, dehiscing longitudinally. Rudimentary 

 ovary absent. Female flower : Calyx short, trifid ; lobes valvate, soon 

 opening. Petals 5, free, imbricate, longer than the calyx. Disk very 

 small. Ovary setose, 3-celled ; styles bipartite ; branches spreading, 

 linear; ovules solitary in each cell. Capsule large, deeply irilobed, 

 opening into 2-valved cocci ; endocarp thick and hard. Seeds shining, 

 with a crustaceous testa ; albumen fleshy. — Shrubs or climbers, hispid 

 with stellate or simple hairs or scaly. Leaves alternate, long-petiolate, 

 entire or 3-5-lobed, 5-7-nerved at the base ; tertiary nerves parallel. 

 Panicles long and slender, axillary; male flowers shortly pedicellate, 

 crowded, the females a little larger and with longer pedicels. 



Monotypic, endemic. 



1. M. africanum. Mull, Arg. in Flora, 1864, 531. A shrub or 

 climber up to 80 ft. high ; branches scabrous with short stellate hairs. 

 Leaves polymorphous, entire and ovate or more or less 2-3 lobed, 3J-6 

 in. long, 3-8 in. broad, lobes acutely acuminate, chartaceous or thinly 

 coriaceous, scabrous with small stellate hairs on both surfaces, 5-nerved 

 from the base ; tertiary nerves prominent below, parallel, petiole up to 

 •4 in. long, pubescent with rough stellate hairs; stipules subulate, rigid, 

 about ] J lin. long. Male panicles solitary or 2 or 3 together in the 

 axils of the upper leaves, slender, up to 10 in. long, clothed with rough 

 stellate hairs ; branches slender, up to 3 in. long; bracts small ; pedi- 

 cels J-1 lin. long. Flowers clustered. Calyx-lobes triangular, 1 J lin. 

 long, IJ lin. broad, rusty- setulose outside, glabrous within. Corolla 

 IJ lin. long, glabrous on both sides. Disk-glands very small, setulose 

 inside. Stamens 17-20; filaments free, glabrous. Receptacle setose- 

 pubescent. Female panicles much smaller, fewer-flowered and less 



