Fhyllanthm EUPHORBIACE^ 259 



apex ; leaves 7-12 cm. 1., 3-5 cm. br., ovate or ovate-lanceolate, 

 acuminate ; racemes in axils 1 • 2-2 * 5 cm. 1. ; sepals of male 

 flowers 4, sub-equal, yellowish-green ; anthers 2, united at apex of 

 column, diverging obliquely below ; sepals of female flower 5, green, 

 .3 larger roundish-ovate to 1 ' 2 mm. 1., smaller elliptical-oblong ; 

 ovary ellipsoidal ; stigmas sessile, triangular, closely reflexed. — 

 Omphalea axillaris Sto. Prodr. 95 (1788), Epistylium axillare 

 Sio. Fl. Ind. Occ. 1097, t. 22, fij. a-d, ff (1798) ; A. Juss. Euphorh. 

 Tent. t. 3, fig. 8. Phyllanthus Epistylium Griseh. Fl. Br. W. 

 Ind. 33 (1859). A specimen from Swartz named by him in 

 Herb. Stockholm, and one in Herb. Mus. Brit. 



Mts. in west, Sivartz ! 



Petiole 2-3 mm. 1. Stipules broadly triangular, acute or acuminate, 

 leathery, persistent. Flowers : Male 4-8 iu a cluster ; pedicels 4-8 mm. 1. ; 

 glands 4, broadly concave upwards ; female generally solitary in the 

 clusters ; pedicel about 2 mm. 1. ; glands minute, oblong. Capsule 

 broadly ellipsoidal, obtuse (fide Muell.). Seeds 1 in each cell. 



[P. distiehus Muell. Arg. in DC. Prodr. xv. pt. 2, 413 (1866) ; 

 tree 20-30 ft. high ; older bi-anches about as thick as a finger, 

 from which the leaves have dropped, leaving large prominent 

 scars ; younger branchlets slender, leafy, deciduous ; leaves 

 3—7*5 cm. 1., ovate, acute, base somewhat oblique; flowers 

 reddish, monoecious, minute, densely clustered ; clusters axillary 

 on leafy branches with long-stalked flowers, or on slender 

 rhachises of the inflorescence springing several together at the 

 axils of the scars of fallen leaves with short-stalked flowers ; 

 sepals of male flower scarcely 1 mm. 1., obovate to roundish, of 

 female flower about 1 ■ 2 mm. 1., elliptical, persistent ; filaments 4, 

 free ; anthers opening longitudinally ; ovary 4-(3)-celled ; 

 styles 4, free, reflexed ; fruit 1 • 5 cm. in diam. — Muell. Arg. in 

 Fl. Bras. xi. pt. 2, 68 ; Hooh. f. in Fl. Brit. Ind. v. 304 ; TJrh. 

 Symh. Ant. iv. 339 ; Watt Diet. Econ. Prodr. Ind. ; Bailei/ 

 Cyclop. Amer. Hort. fig. 1771. P. longifolius Jacq. Hort. Schoenhr. 

 li. 36, t. 194 (1797). Cicca disticha L. Mant. 124 (1767) ; Lam. 

 Illustr. t. 757, f. 1 : A. Juss. Euphorh. Tent. t. 4,/. 13, a; Griseh. 

 Fl. Br. W. Ind. 32 ; Mheede Hort. Mai. Hi. t. 47, 48. 



Otaheite Gooseberry. 



In gardens ; Hope Gardens, Harris ! — Warmer regions of the world. 



Stipules narrowly triangular, acuminate, about 1 mm. 1. Disk of male 

 flowers of 4 free glands, of female narrowly saucer-shaped. Fruit : Peri- 

 carp fleshy, acid, when dry 6-8-lobed and splitting up into 3 or 4 cocci. 



The fruits are not unlike gooseberries, but acid and astringent ; they 

 are eaten raw or dressed in various ways, pickled or made into preserves. 

 The roots and seeds are purgative. (Watt)] 



12. P. nobilis Muell. Arg. in DC. Prodr. xv. pt. 2, 414 (1866) ; 

 tree 20-40 ft. high; leaves 4—13 cm. 1., narrowly elliptical or 

 oblong-elliptical, acute to subacuminate at both ends; flowers 



s 2 



