Meyistoxtigma.'] CXXXY. ECJPHORBIACEJJ. (J. D. Hooker.) 467 



'M. malaocense, Hoolc.f.Ic. Plant, t. 1592. 



MALACCA, Mvingay (Kew Distrib. 1423). SINGAPORE, Loll. 



Stem about us thick as a crow-quill, terete, smooth, pubescent, as are the j petioles 

 young leaves and racemes. Leaves 46 by 2-2^ in., thinly coriaceous, base sub- 

 acute or rounded, pale greenish when dry, nerves 2-3 pair above the basal, transverse 

 nervules slender ; petiole ^1 in., slender. Racemes, male 1-3 in., very slender, fem. 

 shorter stouter; bracts minute; male fl. J^ in. long, fem. in. Calyx of male 

 sparsely hairy, of the female more hairy ; anthers broadly trigonous in section, with 

 the angle on the inner face, so that all three anthers meet by their adjacent faces. 

 Styles united in a globose Si-fid mass much larger than the body of the ovary, on 

 which it is sessile ; lobes smooth within, not papillose. Capsule J-f in. diam. Allied 

 to SpAafOstytis, Baill., of Madagascar, which differs in the stamens. 



70. DAXiECHAIKPXA, Linn, 



Shrubs or undershrubs, often twining. Leaves alternate, entire or 3-5- 

 lobed or -foliolate, usually 3-7-plinerved. Flowers monoecious, apetalous, 

 in axillary androgynous sessile or peduncled racemes or heads, often mixed 

 with sterile deformed flowers, involucrate ; involucre of two often large and 

 coloured entire or 3-fid bracts, with a whorl of small outer ones at their 

 base ; upper or inner floral bracts male, 3- or more-nd. y lower or outer 

 female. Disk 0. MALE FL. Sepals 4-6, membranous, valvate. Stamens 

 20-30, on a convex receptacle, filaments free or connate ; anthers erect, often 

 didymous, cells contiguous, parallel. Pistillode 0. FEM. FL. Sepals 5-12, 

 usually pinnatifidly fimbriate or lacerate, imbricate. Ovary 3-4-celled ; 

 styles connate in a fleshy slender or stout column, with an obtuse dilated or 

 lobed stigma; cells 1-ovuled. Capsule deeply lobed, splitting into 3-4 

 2-valved cocci, endocarp hardened. Seeds globose or ellipsoid, estrophiolate, 

 albumen fleshy; cotyledons broad, flat. Species about 60, all tropical, 

 chiefly American. 



1. D. indica, Wight Ic. t. 1882; leaves 3-foliolate, leaflets serrate, 

 bracts acutely 3-lobed, toothed, floral bracts 3-lobed, fem. sepals pin- 

 natifidly laciniate segments subulate tips glandular. Muell. Arg. in DC. 

 Prodr. xv. ii. 1241. D. coromandeliana, Heyne in Wall. Cat. 7798. D. 

 bidentata, Thwaites Enum. 270 (excl. syn.}. D. ternata, a. zeylanica, Muell. 

 Arg. I. c. 



DECCAN PENINSULA; Coromanclel, Heyne] Dindygul Hills, Wight. CEYLON, 

 at Gonagama, Thivaites. 



A slender twiner, finely pubescent except on the leaves above. Leaflets 2-3 in., 

 membranous, very shortly petiolulate, acuminate, terminal elliptic ovate, lateral with 

 the outer base enlarged rounded and sometimes lobulate ; petiole |-3 in., very slender ; 

 stipules and stipellas lanceolate. Involucral bracts 1 in. and less, yellow. Flowers 

 surrounded by many broad fleshy scales (deformed flowers). Sepals of fem . 812, 

 slender, rigid, ciliate. Ovary pubescent ; style slender, stigma subcupular. Cap- 

 sule ^ in. diam. Seeds globose, mottled. I can find no difference between the 

 Ceylon and Deccan plant. Mueller puts indica into a section with petiolulate leaflets, 

 and ternata into another with sessile ones, but the Ceylon specimens have the 

 longest petiolules. 



2. D. velutina, Wight Ic. t. 1881 ; leaves deeply 3-lobed tomentose 

 beneath, lobes ovate-oblong serrate, the lateral spreading, peduncle shorter 

 than the leaves, involucral bracts 3-fid ovate-cordate serrulate, fem. bracts 

 entire, sepals of fem. 8-10 pinnatifid hirsute. D. scandens, var. . velutina, 

 Muell. Arg. in DC. Prodr. xv. ii. 1245. 



