304 EUPHORBiACEiE. \Mappa. 



and calyx-like, usually 2- or 3-lobed. Male flowers clustered. Stamens 3 to 

 10. Anthers globular, almost 4-lobed. Female flowers solitary, \vdthin small 

 or leafy bracts. Ovary 2 -celled (or rarely 3 -celled), with 1 ovule in each cell. 

 Styles distinct, laciniate or plumose along the inner side. Capsule often bear- 

 ing soft prickles or subidate processes. Cocci 2-valved. — Trees. Leaves 

 alternate, usually peltate. Panicles or racemes axillary or lateral. 

 A tropical genus, hmited to the Old World. 



1. M. Tanaria, Sprang.; Miq. Fl. Ned. hid. i. pars ii. 401. A dioe- 

 cious tree, more or less glaucous. Leaves rather deeply peltate, broadly ovate, 

 with a long acumen, 6 in. to 1 ft. long, entire, angular or iiTcgularly toothed, 

 minutely glandular-dotted and often glaucous, but not softly pubescent, as in 

 M. tomentom. Male panicles much branched, the peduncle minutely tomen- 

 tose. Bracts ovate, concave, 3 or 4 lines long, acuminate and toothed, em- 

 bracing the flowers. Female panicles less branched. Capsules about \ in. 

 broad, with a few long soft processes, sessile in a bract like those of the males 

 but larger. — M glabra, A. Juss. in Dene. Herb. Tim. Descr. 139, 



Hongkong, Hance, Wright. In the Indian Archipelago, and northward to Loochoo. 



5. ENDOSPERMUM, Benth. 



Flowers dioecious, in spikes or racemes. Perianth small and calyx-like, 

 toothed. Male flowers : Stamens 6 to 10, inserted along a central elongated 

 column. Anthers globular, 4-valved. Female flowers : Ovary 2-celled, very 

 rarely 3 -celled, with 1 ovule in each cell. Style reduced to a sessile disk- 

 shaped stigma (or deciduous, having a disk-shaped persistent base?). Fruit 

 unarmed, with a slightly succulent epicarp, the endocarp of two indehiscent 

 cocci. — Trees or shrubs, more or less scaly-tomentose. Leaves alternate, 

 broad, entire. Spikes axillary. 



A small genus, limited to eastern tropical Asia. The characters of the male flower are 

 taken solely from a Borneo species. 



1. ZS. cHinense, Benth. in Journ. Soc. Linn. Lond. med. A tree. Young 

 branches thick, covered as well as the petioles and racemes with a minute 

 scaly tomentum. Stipides 1 line long. Leaves on long stout petioles, broadly 

 ovate, obtuse, 4 to 5 in. long, truncate at the base, nearly glabrous above, 

 hoary or almost silvery underneath, with 2 large convex glands at the base, 

 and here and there a similar one in the axils of the smaller veins. Fruiting 

 racemes not 2 in. long. Pedicels short or scarcely any. Fruits tomentose, 

 near -^ iii- diameter. The male plant is as yet unknown. 



Hongkong, Champion, Hance. Not known out of the island. 



6. STIPELLARIA, Benth. 



(Bleekeria, Miq) 



Flowers dioecious, in racemes or spikes. Perianth calyx-like, without petals. 

 Male flowers : Calyx of 2 to 4 segments, valvate in the bud. Stamens 8, or 

 rarely fewer, the filaments united in a ring at the base. Anthers versatile, with 

 contig-uous cells. Female flowers : Calyx of 5 to 8 naiTOw sepals. Ovary 3- 

 or 4-celled, with 1 ovule in each cell. Styles free almost to the base, linear- 

 subulate, not plumose. Capsule globular, dividing into 2-valved cocci. — 



