Aucuba.'] LXXII. COKNACE^. (C. B. Clarke.) 747 



5. AUCUBA, Thunb. 



Glabrous branching shrubs. Leaves opposite, petioled, ovate or lanceolate, 

 obtusely serrate, leathery, shining, turning black in drying. Floivers small, 

 dioecious, in pseudo-axillary panicles, lurid purple ; bracts inconspicuous ; ped- 

 icels jointed and 2-bracteolate. MALE : calyx small, 4-toothed ; petals ovate or 

 lanceolate, valvate ; stamens 4 ; disc quadrangular, fleshy ; no rudiment of an 

 ovary. FEMALE : calyx-tube ovoid, limb 4-toothed ; petals as in the male ; no 

 rudiments of stamens ; ovary 1-celled, disc fleshy ; style short, thick, stigma 

 capitate ; ovule solitary, pendulous. Bemy ellipsoid, crowned by the calyx- 

 teeth and style. Seed oblong, albumen copious; embryo minute, radicle superior 

 near the summit of the seed. DISTKIB. Species 3 or 1, Sikkim, Hongkong, 

 Japan. 



1. A. himalaica, Hook. f. III. Him, PL t. 12 ; leaves lanceolate or 

 narrowly lanceolate acuminate, branches of the panicle very pilose. 



SIKKIM and BHOTAN, alt. 6000-9000 ft., Griffith, &c. DISTRIB. Japan. 



A stout shrub, 6-12 ft., branching dichotomously. Leaves 8 by If in., narrowed at 

 the base, denticulate or serrate ; petiole |-1 in. Panicles f in. diam., terminal on 

 very short lateral branches. Fruit ^ by.^ in., smooth, shining, variable in colour, 

 orange yellow or scarlet. Yokohama specimens, named A. longifolia in Herb. Hook., 

 are identical with the Indian. A. japonica differs by having rather broader less acu- 

 minate leaves and less hairy panicles. The increase of material renders more probable 

 the suggestion made by Sir J. Hooker I. c. that there is but one and that a very vari- 

 able species of Aucuba. 



6. NVSSA, Linn. 



Trees (or shrubs), innovations silky. Leaves alternate, petioled, entire. 

 Flowei-s capitate, on axillary peduncles, polygamo-dioecious, 1 or few females 

 and many males in a head, each 3-4-bracteolate, or the males irregularly coa- 

 lescing. MALE: calyx short, cup-shaped, 5-7-toothed; petals 5-7, imbri- 

 cate, hairy ; stamens usually 10 (in the Indian species) around a large circular 

 disc ; rudiment of the ovary or small. FEMALE : calyx-tube campanulate ; 

 limb 5-toothed : petals or minute ; no rudiments of stamens ; ovary 1-celled ; 

 style cylindric, simple or shortly 2-fid ; ovule solitary, pendulous. Berry oblong 

 or ovoid. Albumen copious ; cotyledons flat, leafy, nearly as broad as the seed. 

 DISTKIB. Species 5-6, in N. America, and from Sikkim to Java. 



1. N. sessiliflora, Hookf. in Gen. PL i. 952 ; leaves oblong acuminate, 

 flowers sessile. Daphniphyllopsis capitata, Kurz For. Fl. i. 240 ; and in Journ. 

 As. Soc. 1875, part ii. 201, with Jig. Hex daphnephylloides, Kurzin Journ. As. 

 Soc. 1870, pt. ii. 72. Agathisanthes javanica, Blume Bijd. 645 ; Miq. Fl. Ind. 

 Bat. i. pt. 1. 839. Oeratostachys arborea, Blume Bijd. 644 ; Miq. I. c. 



SIKKIM, alt. 5000-8000 ft. ; J. D. H., Kurz. KHASIA MTS.: H.f. $ T. CACHAR ; 

 B. L. Keenan. MARTABAN, alt. 5000-7000 ft. ; Kurz. DISTRIB. Java. 



A tree, 60 ft. Leaves 6 by 2 in., acute at the base, punctate on both surfaces, 

 adult glabrous beneath, rarely pubescent and chiefly on the nerves; petiole 1 in. 

 Peduncles 1-1^ in., more or less pubescent. Calyx-teeth rounded, pubescent and 

 ciliate. Ripe fruit \ by \ in., ovoid, narrowed upwards to a point, glabrous. 



