340 FLORA OF TASMANIA. [Euphorbiacea. 
erectus, foliis rigidis linearibus supra glabris subtus appresse incanis, floribus breve pedicellatis, stylis 3 
distinctis profunda tripartitis. {Gunn, 624.) 
Hab. Abundant on the Nile rivulet and South Esk River, about sixteen miles from Launceston, 
Gunn ; Great Swan Port, BacMouse.—(F\. Dec.) 
Disteib. Blue Mountains in New South Wales, and Yictoria. 
A small, erect shrub, 1-6 feet high in Australia, with terete, pubescent bi igid, almost pun- 
gent leaves, £-1 inch long, with rcvolutc margins ; under surface white and tomentose ; petiole short. Flowers 
on short, stout, axillary peduncles, about i inch in diameter. Capsule oblong, pubescent. — The bracts, placed at 
the top of each peduncle, and surrounding the flower, entirely resemble the so-called calyx of Beyeria, but, as Plan- 
chon observes that they sometimes contain two flowers, a male and female, it becomes doubtful whether the so-called 
calyx of the female flower of Ricinocarpus and Beyeria is anything more than a series of bracts. The subject of the 
ires a systen 
Gen. IY. AMPEREA, A. Juss. 
Flores parvi, monoici v. dioici. Masc. Calyx campanulatus, 3-5-fidus; laciniis valvatis, patentibus. 
Corolla 0. Stamina 8, filainentis filiforraibus ima basi connatis, 4 exterioribus brevioribus ; antheranm 
loculis ovatis e apice connectivi granuliformis pendulis. E(em. Calyx 3-5-partitus j laciniis rigidis, persis- 
tentibus, acutis. Ovarium glabrum, 3-loculare, loculis 1-ovulatis. Stylus brevisj Btigmata 3, erecta, 
bifida, laciniis acutis. Capsnla ovoidea, tricocca ; coccis bivalvibus 1-spermis, ab axi eolumelkformi de- 
cides.— Suffruticuli spartei ; ramis compressis, erectis v. virgatis ; foliis raris, slipulatis, altemis, brevibm, 
acutis ; floribus masc. et foem. plerumque in eodem stirpe remote, minuiis, axillaribus ; pedunculis multi- 
bracteatis, rigidis. 
A curious genus of often nearly leafless plants, consisting in most cases of slender, compressed and acutely 
angled, flexuous, rigid stems and branches, somewhat like those of Leptomeria, furnished here and there with 
minute leaves and small tufts of minute flowers, surrounded with rigid bracts. About ten species are known to 
me.— A. spartioides, the only Tasmanian species, is a dioecious, suffrutescent plant, 1-3 feet high, consisting of a 
short, woody stem, that sends up numerous flexuous or strict, sparingly divided, much compressed, almost two- 
edged branches, about \ inch broad ; these are deeply grooved and two- to three-ribbed in the centre, and at inter- 
vals of an inch or so bear alternately minute glomeruli of flowers. The leaves are found chiefly on young plants 
and shoots, and are small, *-£ inch long, elliptical-oblong or obovate, acute, irregularly toothed, glaucous 
below, very shortly pedicelled ; pedicels bracteolate. Flowers surrounded by dark-coloured, imbricating bracts. 
Males. Calyx campanulate, quinquefid, its segments valvate. Corolla none. Stamens eight, the filaments com- 
bined at the base, four outer shorter. Anther-cell* pendulous from the thickened, granulate connective. Females 
with a persistent, rigid calyx. Ovary smooth, three-celled, three-ovuled, with three erect, bifid stigmas. Capsule 
i inch long, small, ovoid, of three crustaceous, two-valved cocci, that separate from a woody, persistent axis ; each 
coccus has towards its apex two short tubercles or horns, one on each side. Seeds shortlv oblong, with a dark 
brown testa, and very large caruncula. (Named in honour of M. Ampere, a celebrated chemist.) 
1. Amperea spartioides (Brongniart in Voy. Coquill t. 49. f. A.) ; erects, ramis ramulisque 
adultis BubaphyiKa dongstu aneipiti compressis profunde sulcatis medio alte costatis, fasciculis florum parvis 
altemis remotis, foliis in ramulis junioribus ovato-ellipticis acutis dentatis, adultis linearibus v. 0, stipulis 
setaceis, capsulis conaceis, coccis apice utrinque tuberculatis comutisve*— AcJuUe Richard, Sert. Astrolab. 
53. *. xx. A. cuneifoha, Mueller. Leptomeria xyphoclados, Sieber, PI. Exsicc. 135. {Gunn, 190.) 
Hab. Abundant in poor sandy soil. — (Fl. Oct.) (v. v.) 
Disteib. New South Wales and Yictoria. 
