306 FLOKA OF JAMAICA Tragia 



Creeping or Twining Cowitch. 



Near St. Jago de la Vega, and common elsewhere, Sloanc Herb. ii. 72 ! 

 Houstoun ! Lmie in Herb. Sloane clxii. 126 ! Browne 1 Wright I Broughton ! 

 Shakspcar ! Masson I Distin ! near Holland Bay, Purdie ! Wilson I 

 Mammee Bay ; Kingston ; Prior ! March ! Port Morant, Hitchcock ; 

 Cherry Garden, Liguanea plain, Campbell ; Hope grounds and river ; near 

 Browns Town, 1000 ft. ; Round Hill, St. Cruz Mts. ; Harris ! Fl. Jam. 

 5832, 6770, 7058, 8234, 9697.— West Indies, Curapao, tropical continental 

 America. West Africa. 



Shrub ; branches trailing and twining over shrubs, armed with stinging 

 hairs. Leaves 2-6 cm. 1., oblong-lanceolate or oblong, base truncate- 

 cordate or rounded, serrate, more or less hirsute with pellucid hairs, which 

 soon drop off; petiole •6-3 cm. 1. ; stipules lanceolate, about 3 mm. 1. 

 Racemes slender, 8-7 mm. 1. ; bracts lanceolate, persistent, 1 mm. 1., 

 female sometimes lobed ; male flowers numerous, female usually 1 (3-4) ; 

 pedicels of male flower about 3 mm. 1., jointed about halfway, of female 

 flower continuing to grow until the capsule is ripe, looking like a branch 

 of the raceme, l'5-3 cm. 1., jointed below the apex. Male flowers : Calyx 

 about 1"2 mm. 1. Sepals 8. Female flowers: Calyx about 2 mm. 1. 

 Sepals 6. Ovary hispid. Capsule 3*5 mm. high, about 7 mm. in diam., 

 hispid with white hairs, deeply divided into 3 subglobular cocci. Seeds 

 globular, 2*5 mm. in diam. 



The root is looked upon as a good aperient and diuretic, and both the 

 decoction and juice are frequently used for those purposes (Browne). 



17. RICINUS L. 



A tall annual glabrous herb, or in warm regions an arborescent 

 shrub. Leaves alternate, peltate, palmately divided into seven 

 or more serrate lobes. Stipules united to cover the bud. Flowers 

 monoecious, without petals. Racemes more or less paniculate at 

 the ends of branches, the lower flowers male, the upper female. 

 Disk none. Male flowers : Calyx globose in bud, valvately 

 3-5-parted in flowering. Stamens very numerous with much 

 branched filaments ; anther-cells subglobose, separately attached 

 to the connective. No rudiment of an ovary. Female flowers : 

 Calyx splitting into the form of a spathe, falling verjJ early. 

 Ovary 3-celled ; styles 2-cleft ; ovules solitary in each cell. 

 Capsule splitting up into three 2-valved cocci, spiny or smooth. . 

 Seeds with caruncle conspicuous. 



Species 1, very widely spread throughout the warmer 

 regions of the world, perhaps originally African, often culti- 

 vated. . 



R. communis L. ,Si/>. PI. 1007 (1753) ; Wright Mem. 230 ; 

 Bot. Mag. t. 2209 ; Baill. Etud. Euphorh. t. 10, 11 & Hist. PL v. 

 110, 111, figs. ; Griseb. Fl. Br. W. Ind. 37 ; Mnell Arg. in DC. 

 Prodr. XV. pt. 2, 1017 & in Fl. Bras. xi. pt. 2, 420, /. 60 ; Bentl. d 

 Trim. Med. PL t. 237 ; Urh. Symb. Ant. iv. 348 ; Booh. f. FL 

 Brit. Ind. V. 457 ; Prain in Fl. Trop. Afr. vi. pt. 1, 945. Ricinus 

 americanus fructu racemoso hispido Sloane Cat. 38, Hist. i. 126. 



