306 cxxxv. EUPHORBIACE^. (J. D. Hooker.) \GlocMdion. 



apetalous, eglandular (without disk-scales or glands). MALE I'L. Sepals 6, 

 rarely 5, spreading in 2 series, imbricate. Anthers 3-8, connate in an ellips- 

 oid or oblong sessile column with linear cells, dehiscence extrorse, connective 

 produced into separate points or connate in an umbonate head. Pistillode 

 0, or very rarely minute and hidden between the anthers. FEM. PL. Calyx 

 usually of 6 short imbricate sepals, or shortly tubular and unequally 

 toothed or cleft. Ovary 3-15-celled ; styles connate in a globose columnar 

 conical or subclavate column lobed or toothed at the tip, or 3 slender free in 

 Glochidiopsis, sometimes obscure or confluent with the top of the ovary, 

 usually lengthening during or after the flowering; ovules 2 in each cell. 

 Capsule of 3 or more 2-valved cocci, often with twice as many lobes as cells, 

 globose or orbicular and depressed or intruded at the base and top, crowned 

 by the often enlarged style ; cocci coriaceous or crustaceous, epicarp sepa- 

 rable or not. Seeds hemispherical or laterally compressed, testa crustaceous 

 with often a succulent coat, albumen fleshy ; cotyledons flat. Species about 

 120, tropical and chiefly Asiatic. 



I find it is inexpedient to follow Mueller (in DC. Prodr. xv. ii. 278) and Bentham 

 (Gen. Plant, iii. 272) in reducing G-lochidion to a section of Phyllanthus, from which 

 it differs in the total absence of a disk, in habit, and in the singular modification of 

 its styles and stigmas. Further, by keeping it distinct I comply with the wishes of 

 Indian Botanists, whose opinion, it is of importance to consult in regard to the no- 

 menclature of so very large and universally distributed an Indian genus. The only 

 deviation in any Indian species from the stylar characters of Glochidion as here 

 limited occurs in the small section Glochidiopsis of Mueller, on which Blume founded 

 the genus Glochidionopsis, and iu which the styles are filiform and nearly free. 



I add with regret, that my long and laborious study of the Indian species has 

 resulted in their very unsatisfactory limitation and disposition. Mueller's primary 

 division of G-lochidion proper, based on the number of anthers, whether 3 or more, 

 is a purely artificial one, and followed here only because I have detected no other so 

 generally recognizable. The form of the style offers a far better character, but is 

 very difficult of application, because of its minuteness and deceptive nature, owing to 

 the great changes which it undergoes during 1 its rapid development after flowering. 

 I would urge on Indian botanists a study of this organ in living specimens, and the 

 making careful drawings of it in all stages of growth, particularly observing the 

 period of impregnation. Lastly, I have to acknowledge my frequent inability to 

 identify the Indian species with the described Malayan Archipelago ones, from want 

 of good materials of the latter and the vagueness of their descriptions. The form of 

 the capsule, globose, or orbicular with depressed base or crown, is a guide to affinities, 

 though often an obscure one. The female calyx, toothed or partite into sepals, is 

 also, I think, a good character, but it is not, when minute, easily observed in dried 

 specimens. I have to acknowledge gratefully the loan of specimens from the 

 Directors of the Botanical Gardens of Calcutta aud Ceylon, which have helped me 

 much. 



KEY TO THE INDIAN SPECIES. ' 



Sect. 1. GLOCHIDION PEOPER. Styles confluent into a cone or column which is 

 lobed toothed or notched at the tip. 



A. Anthers 4 or more. See also 28. obscurum, 38. assamicum, and 55. villicaule 

 (sometimes 3 in IG.fagifolium and 17. Irachylobum) . 



* Female calyx of 5-6 distinct sepals. 



f Capsule depressed-globose, distinctly lobed, base and apex intruded. 



Ovary 8-12-celled; style a very broad shallow cone, with a hollowed vertex. - 

 Sp. 1-3. 



Ovary 4-8-celled : style conical from a very broad base, as long as or longer 

 than the ovary. Sp. 4-7. 



