100(J cxxii. EUPHORBiACEiE (prain). [Spirostachys. 



ovules in each cell solitary ; styles 2-3, shortly connate below, free 

 above, entire. Capsule 3-dymous, occasionally 2-dymous, breaking up 

 explosively into two or three 2-valved cocci. Seeds wide-ovoid, without 

 a caruncle ; albumen fleshy ; cotyledons broad, flat. — A tree, every- 

 where glabrous ; wood hard, duiable, odoriferous. Leaves 2-glandular 

 at the apex of the petiole, alternate, crenulate, firm ; stipules minute, 

 deciduous. Flowers in normally 2-sexual cylindric sessile lateral 

 catkin-like spikes, which precede the leaves ; bracts imbricate, 

 eglandular, each subtending a solitary flower ; males numerous ; 

 females 1-3 at the base of the catkin or occasionally absent; at times 

 only 1 -sexual male catkins found on an individual tree, usually both 

 male and androgynous catkins present, sometimes all the catkins 

 androgynous. — Stillingia, Baill. Etude Gen. Euphorb. 522, in small 

 part ; Harv. Gen. S. Afr. PI. ed. ii, 340, mainly : not of (4ard. Exccecaria^ 

 Miill. Arg. in Linnsea, xxxii. 122, and in DC. Prodr. xv. ii. 1213 ; 

 Benth. in Benth. <fc Hook. f. Gen. PI. iii. 337, all in small part : not of 

 Linn. Excceqariopsis, Pax in Engl. Jahrb. xlv. 239. Sjnrostachys, 

 sect. Fglcmdulosce, Pax &, K. Hoffm. in Engl. Pflanzenr. Euphorb. - 

 Hippoman. 155. 



A single species, widely spread in TropicHl and Sonth-esist Africa. 



A very marked genus, reiulily distinguished by its united tilmnents. The 

 section GIatidvh'f^P7-cp, vcco^maed bv Pax &. K . HofFniann, is, we believe, better left in 

 Excoecaria. In cur generic key, p. 448, the male cnlyx-lobes have inadvertently 

 been stated to be valviite ; they are however, distinctly, if slijjhtly, imbricate as in 

 the allied genus Maprounea. 



1. S. africana, Sond. in Linruea, xxiii. lOG. A tree from 

 20-70 ft. high, all parts glabrous. Leaves short- petioled, firmly 

 membranous or subcoriaceous, ovate-oblong, narrowed to a short blunt 

 or subemarginate tip, base rounded, margin crenulate, 1J-2J in. long, 

 |-lj in. wide, somewhat polished above, paler beneath, obscurely 

 penninerved ; petiole \ in. long, 2-glandular at the top ; stipules very 

 small. Inflorescences catkin-like, lateral, sessile, appearing before the 

 leaves, very dense, cylindric, ^-J in. long ; bracts closely imbricate, 

 eglandular, spirally arranged, each subtending a single flower and 

 concealing the calyx ; flowers many, sessile males above, 1-3 basal 

 shortly pedicelled female, their pedicels elongating in fruit. Capsule 

 subglobose, 'i in. across ; cocci 2-valved, valves thinly woody, opening 

 explosively; pedicels in fruit \ in. long. Seeds wide-ovoid, \ in. long. 

 — Walp. Ann. iii. 360; Pax in Engl. Pflanzenr. Euphorb.-Hippoman. 

 165. *S'. S7/nandra, Pax, I.e. ^Stillingia ofricana, Baill. Etude Gen. 

 Euphorb. 522 and in Adansonia, iii. 163. Exccecaria ofricana, ISlUll. 

 Arg. in Linnsea, xxxii. 123, and in DC. Prodr. xv. ii. 1215; Sim, For. 

 Fl. Cape Col. 319, t. 144, fig. 2, and For. Fl. Port. E. Afr. 104, t. 100 B. 

 E. Agallocha, Benth. in Benth. <fc Hook. f. Gen. PI. iii. 337, partly; 

 not of Linn. E. synandra, Pax in Engl. Jahrb. xliii. 223. Maprounea 

 africana, IMUll. Arg. in DC. Prodr. xv. ii. 1191, mainly; Hiern in 

 Cat. Afr. PI. Welw. i. 985, mainly. Sapium africanum, O. Kuntze,. 

 Rev. Gen. PI. iii. ii. 293. Excaecariopais Dinteri, Pax in Engl. Jahrb. 

 xlv. 239. E. synandra, Pax, I.e. 



