268 cxxxv. EUPHORBIACE2E. (J. I). Hooker.) [_B?vVA7.Y, 



tube ; of the female with the centre conical, membranous, truncate, oiim 

 enclosing the young ovary. Stamens 5; filaments united below in a column 

 which bears a terminal pistillode, free above and spreading; anther-o-ll 

 parallel. Ovary 2- rarely 3-cellecl, glabrous ; styles 2, forked ; ovules 2 in 

 each cell. Drupe small, with 1-2 usually 1-seeded cocci or pyrenes. Albiuum 

 fleshy or membranous ; cotyledons thin or fleshy. Species about 30, Tropical 

 African, Asiatic and Australian. 



* Nerves 8-20 (rarely fewer than 12) pair. 



1. B. retusa, Spreng. Sj/st. Veg. iii. 48; shoots and leaves beneath 

 glabrous or tomentose, leaves rigidly coriaceous elliptic oblong ovate or 

 obovate tip acute obtuse or rounded, base acute obtuse or cordate, nerves 

 15-20 pairs strong straight parallel, flowers dioecious in axillary or spicate 

 clusters sessile or pedicelled glabrous or pubescent, calyx-lobes ovate acute, 

 petals of male orbicular crenate, of fern, subspathulate, fruit globose seated 

 on the hardly enlarged calyx. MuelL Arc/, in DC. Prodr. xv. 1.493 ; BailL 

 Etudes Gen. Euphorb. t. 25, fig. 25-34 ; Thwaites Enum. 279 ; Brand. For. 

 Fl. 449, t. 55; Kurz For. Fl. ii. 368; Gamble Man. Ind. Timb.356; Bed- 

 dome Fl. Sylvat. t. 260. B. arncena, Wall, ex Baill. 1. c. (fid. MuelL). B. 

 montana, Wall. Cat. 7879 (in part) \ BailL I. c. 5S3 ; Gra'k. Cat. Bomb. PL 

 184 ; Dalz. Sf Gibs. Bomb. Fl. 233. B. spinosa, Roxb. FL Ind. iii. 735 ; 

 Wall. Cat. 7883 B in part ; Grdti. L c. 184. Cluytia retusa, Linn. Sp. PL 

 1042. 0. spinosa, Willd. in Roxb. Cor. PL ii. 38, t. 172. Andrachne 

 Doonkyboisca, Serb. Heyne ; Wall. Cat. sub 7879. jRheede Sort. Mai. ii. 

 1. 16. 



Throughout the hotter parts of INDIA, along the foot of the Himalaya from 

 Kashmir to Mishnii, ascending to 3500 ft., and thence southward to BUEMA, 

 MALACCA, TEAVANCOE and CEYLON. 



A deciduous-leaved large shrub, or a tree 50-60 ft. ; young gpinous. Leaves 3-5 in., 

 base rarely acute, glabrous above, glabrous and glaucous beneath, or finely pubescent ; 

 petiole \\ in. Bracts small, obtuse, villous. Flotvers in clusters of about % in. 

 diam., both axillary and in long spikes, pubescent or glabrous, of which the mules are 

 very slender. Calyx in. diam., tube pubescent, lobes usually glabrous. Disk of 

 male pulvinate, of fern, enclosing the young ovary. Fruit size of a pea, purple-black, 

 cocci dehiscing. Mueller makes three varieties, of which the third is the most dis- 

 tinct. 1 add a fourth. Of Wallieh's -B. amcena I have seen no specimens; Baillion 

 took it up from a plant so named on Wallieh's authority in Gaudichaud's herbarium, 

 and presumably procured in Calcutta ; he says it is very 'near _B. retusa, aud Mueller, 

 who, I assume, examined it, united it with that plant. Kurz's amcena is IB. bir- 

 manica. 



B. BETUSA PEOPEE ; spikes sometimes afoot long, slightly pubescent. 



VAE. squamosa ; flowers axillary or in short tomentose spikes. 



VAE. Mox'burghiana ; branchlets and leaves beneath densely tomentose, leaves 

 smaller oblong tip rounded pale when dry. B. crenulata, Eoxb. FL Ind. iii. 734; 

 Wall. Cat. 7880. -Chiefly in the Deccan Peninsula. 



VAE. glauca; quite glabrous, leaves as in var. Roxburghiana, but quite glabrous 

 and very glaucous beneath. Deccan Peninsula. 



2. B. BXoonii, T/iwaites Enum. 279 ; branchlets glabrous or pubescent, 

 leaves large coriaceous elliptic-oblong or obovate tip acute obtuse or rounded, 

 reticulate above puberulous beneath, nerves 12-14 pair strong slightly 

 arched with strong cross-nervules, flowers monoecious ? minute in small 

 axillary clusters sessile glabrous, calyx-lobes ovate-lanceolate, petals of 

 male orbicular irregularly lobecl, of fern, oblong, fruit ellipsoid acute at both 

 ends seated on the unaltered calyx. Mueller Arg. in DC. Prodr. xv. ii 497 ; 



