PhyllantJtus.] cxxxv. EUPHORBIACEYE. (J. D. Hooker.) 293 



654 ; Wiaht Ic. t. 1895, f. 3 ; Grah. Cat. Bomb. PI. 180 ; Dalz. $ Gils. 

 Bomb. Fl. 233; Benth. Fl. Hongk. 311, and Fl. Austral, vi. 103. P. 

 andrachnoides; Willd. Sp. PI. iv. 575. P. oboordatus, Willd. Enum. Hort. 

 Berol. Suppl. 65 ; Rorb. Fl. Ind. iii. 656; Wall. Cat. 7906. P. javanicus, 

 Poir. ; Spreng. Syst. iii. 21. P. anceps, Herb. Heyne. P. linearis, Herb. 

 Madr. P. malabaricus, Herb. Wight. P. Niruri, Wall. Cat. 7894. 



Drier parts of INDIA ; from BANDA, Edgeivorth, throughout the DECCAN PENIN- 

 SULA to CEYLON. DISTRIB. Trop. Africa, Arabia, Java, China, Australia. 



Very variable in habit, erect or decumbent below ; stems low and herbaceous or 

 erect, slender, woody with spreading branches and sometimes ? a woody perennial 

 stock. Leaves from ^ in. and cuneate or almost obcordate to 1| in., and narrowly 

 oblong-cuneate ; nerves few, slanting ; petiole minute ; stipules lanceolate membranous. 

 Malefl. -5-\j in. diam., usually fascicled with one much. larger fern. ;fem. T \j in. diam. in 

 fruit. Sepals rounded or obcuneate. Disk of glands in both sexes. Anthers almost 

 sessile on the column, erect, apiculate. Fruit dry, ^ in. diam., globose. Mueller distin- 

 guishes four varieties by the size and form of the leaves, but they pass into one another. 

 Roxburgh describes his olcordatus as suffruticose ; it is a tall slender form with woody 

 stems and long branches. 



21. P. Rheedii, Wight Ic. t. 1895, f. 1 ; annual, quite glabrous, leaves 

 \-\\ in. subsessile elliptic or subovate apiculate, stipules not peltate, 

 flowers axillary males very minute fern, larger longer pedicelled, sepals 

 oblong green with narrow white margins, filaments free above, styles short 

 2-partite, seeds remotely striated. Muell. Arg. in DC. Prodr. xv. ii. 363. 

 P. flaccidus, Thivaites Enum. 283. 



NILG-HIRI HILLS, Wight ; alt. 6000ft., Clarke. CEYLON; in the Central Province, 

 alt. 4-7000 ft. 



Diffusely branched from the base and above, -3 ft. high ; branches terete. Leaves 

 membranous, dark brown when dry, not glaucous beneath, nerves very faint ; petiole 

 Jg- in. ; stipules lanceolate. Flowers a few males on short capillary pedicels, and one 

 fern, on a longer stouter pedicel, the latter in fruit \ in. diam. Sepals oblong. 

 Disk-glands of male large, lobulate ; of fern, linear, quite distinct. Filaments free 

 above and spreading ; anthers globose, not apiculate. Styles slender. Capsule |- in. 

 diam., globose, hardly 3-lobed, almost membranous. Seeds with rather distant longi- 

 tudinal very slender ridges and minute cross-lines. Wight's figure is not accurate, 

 nor does it accord with his specimens ; the filaments are quite free, and diverge above ; 

 the fern, disk is not cupular, as figured by him and described by Mueller, but of linear 

 glands ; and the fern. pQdicel is much too long. Wight suggests this being Rheede's 

 Niruri, which Mueller rightly doubts. Rheedeis not likely to have had a Nilghiri or 

 Ceylon plant. 



22. P. urinaria, Linn. Sp. PL 982 ; annual, rarely perennial, gla- 

 brous or nearly so, stem and branches angled, leaves jj- in. sessile disti- 

 chously imbricate oblong or linear-oblong tip rounded or apiculate, 

 stipules peltate, flowers very minute axillary subsessile, sepals ciliolate, 

 filaments very short free, ovary densely granulate, styles short free 2-fid, 

 fruit echinate, seeds transversely furrowed. Muell. Arg. in Linn&a xxxii. 

 19, and in DC. Prodr. xv. ii. 364 ; Roxb. Fl. Lid. iii. 660 ; Wall. Cat. 7893 ; 

 Grah. Cat. Bomb. PI. 180; Benth. Fl. Hongk. 310, and Fl. Austral, vi. 

 102. P. leprocarpus, Wight Ic. t. 1895, f. 4. P. alatus, Slume jBijd. 594. 

 P. cantoniensis, Hornem. Hort. Haffh. 910. P. mucronatus & racemosus, 

 Herb. Heyne. P. muricatus & P. polyphyllus, Herb. Madr. P. echinatus, 

 Herb. Ham.Bheede Hort. Mai. x. 16. 



Throughout INDIA ; from the PAXJAB to ASSAM, BuuMi, MALACCA, PENANG. 

 and CEYLON. DISTRIB. Tropics generally. 



