256 FLORA OF JAMAICA Phyllanthus 



filaments 3, free ; styles free, 2-branchec], horizontal. — Michx. Fl. 

 Bor. Am. it. 209 : Muell. Arg. in DC. Prodr. xv. pt. 2, 399. 

 P. obovatus Mnehienh. ex Willd. Sp. PL ed. 4, iv. 574(1805); 

 A. Pick, in Sagra Cub. xi. 215. 



Belle Vue, near Spanish Town; Castleton grounds, 500 ft., Harris] 

 Fl. Jam. 12,046, 12,143.— Cuba, Hispaniola, Martinique, northern S. America, 

 Central America and northwards to Pennsylvania. 



Petiole scarcely 1 mm. 1. Stiptiles about "5 mm. 1., triangular, acute, 

 scarious at tip and margin. Flowers a few, subsessile in axils, male and 

 female. Pedicels '5-1 mm. 1. Disk of male flowers composed of distinct 

 glands ; of female flowers saucer-shaped. Capsule globular-depressed, 

 nearly 2 mm. in diam. Seeds 3-cornered, minutely papillose (under a 

 strong lens), about 1 mm. 1. 



6. P. nirupi L. Sp. PI. 981 (1753); annual herb, 6 inches- 

 2 ft. high, glaucous; flowering branches angular to 1 dm. 1. ; 

 leaves 1-1*8 cm. 1. in the middle of the twig, shorter above 

 and below, oblong elliptical or oblong-obovate, rounded to blunt 

 at both ends, membranous, glabrous ; pedicels 1-2 mm. 1. ; sepals 

 5-6, unequal; of male flowers "5- '8 mm. I., ovate, of female 

 about 1 mm. ]., elliptical-ovate; filaments united into a column; 

 anthers 3, distinct ; styles free, very short, each with two very 

 short hranchea.— Wight Ic. t. 1894; Griseb. Fl. Br. W. Ind. 34; 

 Muell. Arg. in DC. Prodr. xv. pt. 2, 406 & in Fl. Bras. xi. pi. 2, 

 53 ; Hooh. f. Fl. Brit. Ind. v. 298 ; Watt Econ. Prodr. ; TJrh. 

 Symh. Ant. iv. 338; Hutchinson in Fl. Trop. Afr. vi. pt. 1, 731. 

 P. foliis. . , pedunculatis &c. L. Fl. Zeyl. 157. Urinaria indica &c. 

 Burm. Zeyl. 230, /. 93, /. 2. Type in Herb. Linn. 



Macfadycnl Distinl Arnottl Kingston, Priw! Port Antonio, IfiWs^^aM^/i; 

 Kingston, Hitchcock ; Porus, C. G. Lloyd; King's House grounds, T. J. 

 Harris ! Hope grounds, 700 ft. ; Harris ! Fl. Jam. 6675, 6773, 6855, 12,136. 

 — Widely spread in the Tropics, naturalized in Bermuda. 



Petiole about 1 mm. 1. ; stipules lanceolate-awl-shaped, scarcely 1 mm. 1. 

 Flowers clustered 2 together, 1 male and 1 female, or each solitary, in 

 axils of leaves. Male floiccis : Disk of separate glands. Female flowers : 

 Disk saucer-shaped, with 5-6 lobes. Capsule depressed-globular, 2-2 • 3 mm. 

 in diam. Seeds with 5 to 6 lines along the back, about 1 mm. 1. 



The root is a remedy for jaundice ; half an ounce of the fresh root is 

 rubbed in a cup of milk, and given night and morning. An infusion of the 

 tender roots is valuable in chronic dysentery. The properties of P. Urinaria 

 are identical with those of this species. (Watt) 



7. P. aquaticus C. Wright in Sauvalle Fl. Cub. 124 (1868); 

 erect herb, to 2.V ft. high, sometimes procumbent at base, growing 

 amongst sedges and coarse grasses in boggy ground ; stem spongy 

 with a loose bladder-like epidermis at base when growing in 

 water; leaves 4-5 mm. 1., elliptical, with rounded apex, sub- 

 sessile; sepals of male flower 5, 1 mm. 1., obovate-roundish, of 

 female flower 5, 1'5 mm. 1., elliptical; filaments united into a 

 staminal column ; anthers 3, distinct, opening horizontally ; 

 styles 2 -branched. 



