Flayiostyles.] cxxii. euphorbiace^ (prain). 1001 



78. PLAGIOSTYLES, Pierre in Bull. Soc. Linn. Paris, ii. 132G. 



Flowers dioecious, apetalous. Male: Calyx depressed-globose, open 

 in bud; lobes 5-6, unequal, imbricate. Stamens 15 or 18 or 21; 

 anthers subsessile, very finely scabridulous externally, 2-celled, de- 

 hiscence longitudinal. Rudimentary ovary 0. Female: Calyx 5-lobed. 

 Disk 0. Ovary 1-celled ; style very short, cylindric, slightly eccentric, 

 in fruit becoming lateral ; stigma depressed-globose, tinely papillose, 

 entire ; ovule solitary. Fruit indehiscent, 1-celled, transversely oblong, 

 subcoriaceous. Seed filling the fruit cavity, somewhat adherent to the 

 pericarp, with a lateral raphe at the end under the style; albumen 

 abundant, oily ; embryo large, cotyledons reniform-cordate, much 

 expanded transversely, flat. — Tree. Leaves alternate, distinctly 

 petioled ; petioles pulvinate at the base and apex. Flowers racemose ; 

 racemes axillary ; pedicels thickened. 



A single endemic species. 



Referred, on page 171 of this volume, to Monimiace(e,t\ie genus Plagiostylea, in the 

 light of the more ample material now available, seems better placed in Euphorbiacefe. 



1. P. klaineana, Pierre in Bull. Soc. Linn. Paris, ii. 1327. A 

 tree reaching 40 ft. in height, juice milky; branches terete, glabrous; 

 bark warm brown, lenticelled. Leaves petioled, oblong, acuminate, 

 margin faintly toothed, base wide-cuneate or rounded, 6-8 in. long, 

 2J-2J in. wide, thinly coriaceous, glabrous; lateral nerves about 5 on 

 each side, looping within the margin ; petiole up to i^ in. long, glabrous, 

 slightly pulvinate at the base, more distinctly at the apex. Flowers in 

 axillary racemes shorter than the leaves, rhachis glabrous, under 2 in,, 

 long ; pedicels short, somewhat thickened upwards, glabrous. Male : 

 Calyx glabrous, open in bud, cupular soon explanate above, fleshy ; 

 lobes 5-G, sometimes up to 8, imbrjcate, unequal. Stamens 15 or 18 or 

 21 ; anthers subsessile, finely scabridulous. Female: Calyx as in male. 

 Ovary oblong, glabrous, slightly oblique. Fruit transversely oblong, 

 I in. across, | in. high. Seed conform with the fruit, | in. long ; testa 

 thinly crustaceous ; albumen abundant, oily ; embryo large ; cotyledons 

 transversely reniform-cordate, J in. across, flat ; radicle superior. — Pax 

 in Engl. & Prantl, Pflanzenfam. Nachtr. ii-.-iii. 38; De Wild, ct 

 Durand in Bull. Herb. Boiss. 2'"^ ser. i. 830 and Reliq. Dewevr. ii. 

 205 ; De Wild. Etudes Fl. Bas- et Moyen-Congo, ii. 270 ; Th. & Hel. 

 Durand, Syll. Fl. Congol. 487 ; C. H. Wright in Dyer, Fl. Tr. Afr. vi. i. 

 171. P. africana, Prain in Kew Bulletin, 1912, 107. Daphniphyllwn 

 africanum, Miill. Arg. in Flora, 1864, 536, and in DC. Prodr. xvi. i. 5. 



Upper G-uinea. Southern Nigeria: Oban, Talbot! C:imeroons: Hipinde, 

 Zenker, 1730! 3008a! 3539! Mimfia, 670 ft., Zenker, 2789! Barombi, Preuss. 

 421 ! Johann-Albrechtshohe, Staudt, 496 ! Efulen, Bates^ 374 ! 



]bower Guinea. Spanish Guinea: Kongui River, Mann, 1811! Hebao, 

 Tessmann, 472! Gaboon: Libreville, Klaine, 555! 645! 1010! 1095! 1096! 

 1202! French Congo: without precise lociility, Atitran, 738! Lower Conj-o : 

 Stanley Pool district ; Kimuenza, Qillet, 1716! Dembo Marshes, GiV/*"/ 1562! near 

 Sanda, Oddon ! Kwango; Dyuma Valley, Gentil ! 



Soutb Central. Belgian Congo : Equatorial district ; on the Lulenga. 

 Dewkvre, 855 ! 



