108 E UPHORBIACEJE. [ ACALYPHA , 



or on separate spikes. MALE flowers : Sepals 4, valvate, more or 

 less connate in a membranous calyx. Stamens usually 8, or many 

 on a convex receptacle ; filaments short, free ; anther-cells dis- 

 tinct, divaricate, often becoming twisted or flexuous. Pistillode 

 none. FEM. flowers : Sepals 3-4, minute, imbricate. Ovary 3- 

 celled ; styles filiform, often long and laciniate or fimbriate ; ovules 

 solitary in each cell. Fruit a capsule of 3 minute 2-valved crusta- 

 ceous cocci. Seeds subglobose, testa crustaceous, albumen fleshy, 

 cotyledons broad and flat. Species about 225, in trop. and sub- 

 trop. regions of the world. 



Bracts distant, shortly dentate ; capsule hispid 1. A. indica. 



Bracts crowded, fimbriate ; capsule glabrous . 2. A. ciliata. 



1. A. indica, Linn. Sp. PL 1003 ; Eoxb. Fl. Ind. Hi, 675 ; 

 Royle III. 327 ; F. B. I. v, 416 ; Watt E. D.; Prain Beng. PL 948 ; 

 'Cooke FL Bomb, ii, 610. 



An erect annual herb, 1-2| ft. high. Branches many, angular, finely 

 pubescent. Leaves thin, glabrous, 1-3 in. long, ovate or rhomboid- 

 ovate, obtuse or subacute, crenate -serrate ; base cuneate, 3-nerved ; 

 petioles slender, usually longer than the blade ; stipules minute. 

 Flowers in lax erect axillary elongate spikes ; the males minute, 

 clustered towards the summit of the spike, ebracteate ; the females 

 in clusters of 3-5, subtended by a shortly stalked leaf -like truncate 

 dentate many-nerved bract J-J in. in diam. Capsules hispid, con- 

 cealed by the bracts, often only 1-seeded. Seed -^ in. long, ovoid, 

 smooth, pale-brown. 



Very common within the area, especially as a garden weed, flowering 

 during the greater part of the year. DISTRIB. : Throughout the 

 hotter parts of India and in Ceylon, extending to Java and Trop. 

 Africa. 



2. A. ciliata, Forsk. FL ^Egypt.-Arab. 162 ; Eoxb. Fl. Ind. 

 m, 676 ; F. B. I. v, 417 ; Watt E. D.; Collett Fl. Siml. 452 ; Prain 

 Beng. PL 948 ; Cooke Fl. Bomb, ii, 611. 



A stout herb, 1-2J ft. high. Stems erect ; branches few, pubescent 

 when young. Leaves thin, If -3 in. long, ovate, acuminate or caudate- 

 acuminate, finely serrate, pubescent on the veins beneath ; base 

 usually rounded, 5-nerved ; petioles spreading, slender, usually ex- 

 ceeding the leaf-blade. Flowers in axillary androgynous spikes ^-J 

 in. long ; the males few, very minute and sessile at the top of the 

 pike ; the females many and crowded at its base ; bracts large, 



