532 



NATURAL HISTORY OF PLANTS. 



month contracted, 4-dentate. Germen obovate-oblong, subadnate to 

 calyx; ovule suberect; funicle short; stigma sessile penicillate- 

 capitate. Achene nucamentaceous, fleshy outside and clothed in 

 accrete baccate adnate obovate calyx. Seed erect ; albumen fleshy ; 

 cotyledons of fleshy embryo small subrotundate, nearly as long as 

 conoid radicle. — Shrubs; leaves alternate serrate, often wrinkled, 

 ashy or white-tomentose beneath; stipules axillary, 2-fid ; flowers 

 at apices of twigs of forked or 2-chotomous peduncle ; males glomeru- 

 late ; females capitellate ; glomeruli and capitula solitary or paired ; 

 receptacle hardly fleshy ; peduncles paired in each axil, sparsely 

 bracteolate (Abyssinia, India, Malaysia 1 ). 



28. Pipturus Wedd. 2 — Flowers dioecious. Male calyx 4, 5- 

 lobed ; lobes ovate-acute. Stamens 4, 5. Rudiment of gynseceum 

 clavate lanate. Female calyx ovoid-ventricose, gradually taper- 

 ing above ; mouth contracted very small, 4-5-denticulate. 

 Germen of same shape as and adnate to calyx ; ovule erect ; funicle 

 short ; stigma elongate-filiform, articulated at base, very caducous, 

 hence glabrous. Achene nucamentaceous, closely enveloped in 

 accrete baccate ventricose adnate calyx (?). Seed erect ; albumen 

 scanty ; cotyledons of rather fleshy embryo ovate or elliptical a little 

 longer than radicle. — Small trees or shrubs, sometimes climbing, 

 rather glabrous or more often downy or tomentose ; leaves alternate 

 petiolate equilateral, entire or dentate, 3 -ribbed ; often greyish, 

 3-ribbed beneath ; cystoliths punctiform ; stipules 2, axillary con- 

 nate to one deeply 2-fid ; flowers closely glomerulate or capitate ; 

 inflorescences axillary or interruptedly spicate ; spikes sometimes 

 2-stichously branching ; female receptacle finally fleshy moriform ; 

 bracts co , small hirsute (Oceania, Malaysia, Mascarene Islands*). 



29. Maoutia Wedd. 4 — Flowers monoecious or dioecious. Male 



1 Spec. 5. Bl, Mns. Lugd.-Bat., ii. 155 3Ius. Lugd.-Bat., ii. f 14. — Pretoria H. By., 



(Morocarpus). — Miq., Fl. Ind. Bat., i. p. ii. 272 M. Gen. Fuphorbiac ., 469. 



(Morocarpus) ; PI. Jungh., i. 36 (Leucocnide).— 3 Spec. 8. Poir., Diet., iv. 644, n. 38 (Ur- 



Wedd., in Ann. Sc. Nat., ser. 4, i. 195 {Mis. tica).— Hook. & Aen., Voy. Beech., Bot., 96 



siessya).— Wight., Icon., vi. 7, t. 1959 (Cono- {Buehmeria).—^., Bijdr., 497, 501 ( Urtica) ; 



cepkah<s)—-HocBST., in A. Rich. Ft. Abyss. Herb. (Croton).— Labill., Sert. Austro-Caled'., 



Tent., ,i. 264 (Frocris).— Wall., Cat., n. 4067 79, t. 80 (Urtica).— Done., Herb. Timor., 163 



( Urtica). {Boibmeria).—MiQ., Ft. Ind. Bat., i. p. ii. 267.— 



3 In Ann. Sc. Nat., ser. 4, i. 196; Monogr., Seem., Fl. Tit., 243. 

 444, t. 15, D; Prodr., 235 ".—Nothocnide Bx., * In Ann. Sc. Nat., ser. 4, i. 193; Mcnogr. 



