Microdesmis.] cxxxv. EUPHORBIACE^). (J. D. Hooker.) 381 



TENASSERIM, Heifer, &c. PERAK, King's Collector. PENANG, Wallicli, &c. 

 MALACCA, Griffith, Maingay (Kew Distrib. 1424, 1454). DISTRIB. Borneo, South 

 China. 



A small evergreen tree ; branchlets and youngest leaves puberulous. Leaves 

 2-6 in., often subfalcate, glabrous, glossy, base very acute, minutely pellucid-punc- 

 tate ; petiole I in. Flowers very shortly pedicelled, puberulous. Sepals elliptic- 

 ovate. Petals orbicular, concave. Stamens alternately shorter, connective apicu- 

 late. Styles reflexed. Fruit - in. diam., globose, 2-celled, bright red. Wallich's 

 No. 7987 is stated to be from Silhet, but this is no doubt an error. 



29. PLATYSTIG1VIA, Brown. 



A tree ? with rusty-pubescent shoots and inflorescence.. Leaves alternate, 

 coriaceous, quite entire, penninerved ; stipules ? Flowers in short axillary 

 panicles, sessile or very shortly pedicelled, dioecious. Disk 0. MALE FL. 

 bracteate and 2-bracteolate. Sepals 4-5, unequal, imbricate. Petals 4r-5, 

 ovate, acute, valvate. Stamens 4-5, filaments very short ; anthers large, 

 cells oblong parallel, slits subextrorse. Pistillode 0. FEM. FL. 1-bracteate. 

 Sepals 5, broadly ovate, imbricate, 2 interior. Ovary cylindric, pubescent, 

 1-celled ; stigma very broad, sessile, disciform, quite entire; ovule 1, pen- 

 dulous from the top of the cell, linear, without an obturator. 



P. myristiceum, Brown in Wall. Cat. 7523 (fern, plant] ; Hook. Ic. 

 PI. t. 1707. Myristicea, Wall. Cat. 9017 (male plant"}. 



SILHET, W. Gomez. 



branches woody, terete, black when dry, hoary. Leaves 5-7 by 2-3^ in., elliptic 

 or elliptic oblong, acute or acuminate, base acute or obtuse, glabrous above, beneath 

 hoary pale brown ; nerves 10-12 pairs, slender, nervules obscure ; petiole f-1 in. 

 Male panicles 1-3 in., sessile, rachis and branches stout; buds globose; flowers in. 

 diam., crowded on the tomentose branches ; sepals hispidly pubescent, much shorter 

 than the corolla; petals glabrous or with a few very minute stellate hairs; anthers 

 opposite the petals and nearly as large. Fern, panicles much shorter and fe\ver-fld. 

 than the male ; flowers on very stout pedicels, which are 1-bracteate at the base ; 

 sepals i in. long ; ovary rusty'tomentose with very thick walls and a narrow central 

 cell ; stigma broader than the body of the ovary, black when dry ; ovule linear. I 

 a-n not certain that this is an Euphorbiaceous plant. Bentham, who has noted that it 

 has 2 ovules but one sometimes abortive (I find but one in the many specimens 

 examined), has suggested (Gen. Plant, iii. 283) that it may be a Baccaurea, from 

 which the 1-celled ovary, linear ovule, stigma, and absence of a thickening or joint at 

 the apex of the petiole at once distinguish it. I find no trace of stipules. 



30. ELATERIOSPER1VIU1VI, Blume. 



A handsome glabrous tree. Leaves alternate, jointed on to the 2-glan- 

 dular long petiole, quite entire, penninerved, reticulate. Flowers in di- 

 trichotomous panicled cymes, monoecious, apetalous, central of each cyme a 

 sessile female. MALE FL. Sepals 4V-6, broad, imbricate. Stamens 10-20 or 

 more, on a villous receptacle, filaments very short, free ; anthers linear- 

 oblong, erect, cells adnate, parallel, connective gland-tipped. Pistillode 

 minute or 0. FEM. FL. Sepals 6, imbricate, caducous. Disk elevated, 

 pubescent. Staminodes many, within the disk. Ovary ovoid, tapering into 

 a short thick style, 2-4-celled; stigmas 3, dilated, crescent-shaped ; ovules 

 1 in each cell, obturator large. Capsule large, of 2 2-valved cocci with a 

 thin fleshy exocarp, and bony endocarp. Seeds large, oblong, testa crus- 

 taceous shining, albumen P thin papery ; cotyledons plano-convex, fleshy, 

 radicle very short. 



