880 cxxii. EUPHORBiACEiE (hutchinson). [Acali/pha. 



57. ACALYPHA, Linn. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PI. 

 iii. 311. 



Flowers monoecious or rarely dioecious. Petals and disk absent. 

 Male flowers : Calyx thinly membranous, closed in bud, at length val- 

 vately 4-partite. Stamens mostly 8 (in the African species), attached 

 to the slightly raised receptacle ; filaments free ; anther-cells distinct, 

 spreading, oblong or linear, usually flexuous or vermiform. Rudimentary 

 ovary absent. Female flowers: Sepals 3-4, imbricate, small. Ovary 

 3-celled ; styles free (connate for half their length in 2, A. peduncularis)^ 

 laciniate, rarely entire or only bilobed ; ovules solitary in each cell. 

 Capsule 3-lobed, usually small and soon dehiscing. Seeds ellipsoid or 

 8ub<ylobose, with a crustaceous testa ; albumen fleshy ; cotyledons broad 

 and flat. — Herbs, shrubs or trees of various habit. Leaves alternate, 

 toothed, 3-7-nerved from the base or penninerved, usually petiolate. 

 Inflorescence various, axillary or terminal or both, bisexual or unisexual, 

 if bisexual then the female flowers below (very rarely above) the 

 males, if unisexual then the male spikes or racemes axillary and the 

 female spike (very rarely a panicle) terminal, or sometimes the flowers 

 dioecious. Male flowers very small, glomerate in small inconspicuous 

 bracts, arranged in slender catkin-like spikes or racemes. Female flowers 

 solitary or rarely more than 2 within a variously toothed or lobed 

 bract which usually becomes foliaceous in the fruiting stage. 



About 300 species, occurring (often as weeds) througliotit tli" warmer regions of 

 both liemispheres ; a few in extra-tropical America. 



As the male flowers of Acalypha are extremely small and do not appear to diflfer 

 mnch in the various species, their description in the following h;i8 heen confined to 

 the bud-stage. 



♦Male and female flowers on separate inflorescences, 

 very rarely a few males present at the apex of the 

 female axis. 

 Flowers dia?cious or at least each shoot or stem 

 unisexual. 

 Leaves sessile or with a petiole not more than 

 3 lin. long. 

 Stems numerous, about 1^ ft. long, unbranched, 



arising from a woody rhizome ; leaves t 



oblong or oblong-huiceolate. * 



Femnle inflorescence axillary, often reduced 



to a solitary flower ; styles free to the base 1 . A. fuscescens. 

 Female inflorescence terminal, composed of 

 several flowers; styles connate in their 

 lower half . . . . . . 2. A. peduncnlaris 



Stems much-brajiched ; a shrub ; leaves obovate 



or oblanceolate, acuminate . . , Z. A. chirindica. 



Leaves with petioles ^-2 in. long. 



Leaves accuminate, coarsely serrate; female 



inflorescence terminal . . . . . ^. A. Grantii. 



Leaves obtuse or subacute, crenate ; female 



inflorescence axillary 5. A. angolensis. 



1 



