Helmngia.1 LXXI. ARALIACE.E. (C. B. Clarke.) 727 



EXCLUDED SPECIES. 



Helwingia populifolia, Spreng. Pugillus ii. 89, said to be from Bengal, does not 

 belong to the genus. 



6. POLYSCIAS. Font. 



Glabrous trees or large shrubs. Leaves pinnate, leaflets coriaceous entire. 

 Umbels panicled (in Indian species); bracts in., lanceolate or 0; pedicels 

 jointed under the flower. Calyx-margin truncate or toothed. Petals 5-4 (in 

 Indian species), valvate. Ovary o^r-celled (in Indian species), summit flat ; 

 styles 5-4, distinct. Fruit ellipsoid or globose, prominently ribbed. Seed 

 compressed ; albumen uniform. DISTRIB. Species 8 ; E. African Islands, S. 

 India, and Malaya. 



1. P. acuminata, Seem. Rev. Heeler. 56 ; leaflets 5-13 oblong much 

 acuminate, panicle narrowly oblong simple, branches short ending in an im- 

 perfect umbel. Bedd. Fl. Sylv. t. 213, excl. syn. Hedera acuminata, Wight 

 Ic. t. 1062 ; Thwaitcs Enum. 131, excl. syn. Eupteron acuniinatum, Miq. FL 

 Ind. Bat. i. pt. i. 762. 



DECCAN MTS., alt. 5000 ft. ; NELGHIRIS ; Wight. ANAMALLAYS and TINXEVELLY 

 GHATS ; Beddome. CEYJLON, Adams Peak, alt. 4000-5000 ft. ; Thwaites. 



A tree. Leaflets 5 by If in., attenuated at both ends, margin thickened, petiole 

 J in. Panicle 8-10 by 1-3 in., branches stout, umbel at the end of each subcapitate 

 the pedicels not rising from the same point and being sometimes again divided so 

 that the panicle may be called compound, but the umbels altogether are not above 

 1 in. diam. ; bracts caducous. Ovary truncate, ellipsoid, soon becoming distinctly 

 ribbed. Ripe fruit not seen. [The Andaman leaves distributed by Mr. Kurz as Eu- 

 pteron sp. nov. ? Andaman Rep. Suppl. B. 9 appear to be Arthrophyllum diversi- 

 folium, B/ume.] 



2. P. pinnata, Forst. Char. Gen. p. 64, t. 32 ; leaflets orbicular subentire 

 or with small remote teeth base cordate. DC. Prodr. iv. 257; Seem. Rev. 

 Heder. 56. Panax ? Heyneanum, Wall. Cat. 4927 ; G. Don Gen. Syst. iii. 385. 

 Nothopanax tricochleatum, Miq. Fl. Ind. Bat. Suppl. 340. AraUa latifolia, 

 W. $ A. Prodr. 376. 



INDIA? Wight No. 1213. DISTBIB. Malaya, Polynesia. 



This plant is noticed here because taken up in W. $ A. Prodr. and because Dr. 

 Seeman supposed it might be a new genus. Wight's Herbarium specimen is without 

 locality, there i& therefore small probability that the plant is Indian. 



7. HEFTAFLEURU1VI, Gaertn. 



Large shrubs or trees, glabrous or tomentose, without prickles. Leaves digi- 

 tate rarely compound-digitate or 1-foliolate ; leaflets coriaceous, entire or 

 remotely toothed or lobed, never closely serrate nor ciliate, those near the 

 panicle usually entire ; stipules often connate within the petiole and prominent. 

 Umbels (rarely capitate) panicled or in compound racemes ; bracts woolly, de- 

 ciduous or persistent ; pedicels not jointed under the flower ; bracteoles few or 

 0, or rarely densely tufted. Calyx-margin toothed or truncate. Petals 5-6 or 

 many, valvate. Stamens as many as the petals. Ovary cells as many as the 

 petals, disc small or large ; styles small, separate or combined in a short conical 

 narrow cylindric column. Fruit subglobose, 5-6-angled. Seeds compressed ; 

 albumen uniform. DISTBJB. Species 50, in the tropics of the old world. 



