EUPHORBIACEAE 



591 



1. Acalypha australis L. A. virgata sensu Thunb., non 



L.; A. pauci flora Hoffm.; A. chinensis Roxb. Enokicusa. 



Annual with short ascending hairs; stems erect, branched, SO- 

 SO cm. long; leaves membranous, ovate to narrowly so, some- 

 times broadly lanceolate, 3-8 cm. long, 1.5-3.5 cm. wide, 

 acute, rounded at base, coarsely toothed, sparsely appressed- 

 pilose on upper side, pilose especially on nerves beneath, 3(-5) 

 -nerved; inflorescence spicate, short-pedunculate, 1-5 in leaf- 

 axils, 1-2 cm. long; pistillate flowers at base of the spike and 



surrounded by a cordate, obtusely toothed sessile bract 1-2 

 cm. long; staminate flowers small, naked, nearly sessile; cap- 

 sules about 3 mm. across, pilose, nearly sessile; seeds broadly 



ovoid, dark brown, smooth, 1.5 mm. long. Aug.-Nov. 



Waste places and cultivated fields in lowlands; Hokkaido, 

 Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu; common. Ussuri, Korea, Man- 

 churia, China, and Philippines. Forma velutina (Honda) 



Ohwi. A. australis var. velutina Honda Birodo-enoki- 



GUSA. With longer spreading hairs on all parts. 



8. MERCURIALIS L. Yama-ai Zoku 



Pilose to glabrous herbs with usually serrate, penninerved, opposite leaves; inflorescence an axillary spike or raceme; pistillate 

 flowers few, subsessile, in leaf-axils or at the base of staminate inflorescence; staminate flowers with a 3-lobed membranous 

 calyx, stamens many, free; pistillate flowers with 3 sepals and 2 scales at base; ovary 2-locular; style nearly free, entire; capsules 

 dehiscent, 2-valved; seeds ovoid, smooth or tubercled, with fleshy endosperm. ^Few species, in Europe and e. Asia. 



1. Mercurialis leiocarpa Sieb. & Zucc. Yama-ai. Nearly 

 glabrous perennial with long-creeping slender rhizomes; stems 

 erect, simple, with a few pairs of leaves, the lower 2 or 3 

 nodes naked; leaves rather unequal in the pair, thin, ovate- 

 oblong or oblong, 7-12 cm. long, 2.5-5 cm. wide, acute, 

 rounded at base, obtusely toothed, with scattered coarse pubes- 

 cence above and on nerves beneath, the petioles 1.5-3 cm. 

 long, the stipules free, membranous, rather persistent, re- 



curved, lanceolate, 3-4 mm. long; spikes axillary, peduncled, 

 few together, the staminate in die lower axils, loosely flow- 

 ered with many stamens, the pistillate in upper axils, few- 

 flowered; capsules 2-valved, green, the valves subglobose, about 

 4 mm. across, bifid, with few callose tubercles on the surface. 



• Apr.-July. Woods in low mountains; Honshu, Shikoku, 



Kyushu; rather common. Korea, Formosa, China, and In- 

 dia. 



9. MALLOTUS Lour. Akame-gashiwa Zoku 



Trees or shrubs often with lepidote or stellate hairs throughout; leaves alternate or opposite, entire or dentate, sometimes 3- 

 lobed, flat, petiolate, penninerved or 3- to 7-nerved, sometimes with 2 sessile glands at base; spikes simple or compounded into 

 panicles; staminate flowers small, fasciculate on the nodes of the rachis, the calyx 3- or 4-lobed, the stamens many, free; pistillate 

 flowers few, solitary in the axil of a bract, the calyx 3- to 5-lobed; ovary 3-locular; styles free or connate at base; ovules solitary in 

 each locule; capsules globose, hairy, tubercled, or glandular-lepidote, 3-valved, dehiscent, the valves bifid; seeds ovoid or globose, 

 with fleshy endosperm. About 80 species, in the Tropics of the Old World. 



1. Mallotus japonicus (Thunb.) Muell.-Arg. Croton 



japonicum Thunb. Akame-cashiwa. Deciduous tree, 



with dense reddish stellate scales while young, grayish after- 

 ward, the branches rather thick; leaves rounded-obovate to 

 broadly ovate, 10-20 cm. long, 6-15 cm. wide, acute, rounded 

 at base, shallowly 3-fid, someumes entire or undulate, 3-nerved, 

 with parallel veinlets, pale yellowish green beneath with yel- 

 low sessile glands, 2 glands just above the base, the petioles 

 rather long; inflorescence a panicle, 8-20 cm. long, the 

 branches elongate in the staminate; staminate flowers with 



calyx about 3 mm. long and numerous stamens 6-7 mm. long; 

 pistillate flowers short-pedicellate on shorter branches of the 

 panicles; capsules trigonous-globose, about 7 mm. across, 

 densely lepidote and with yellowish brown glandular dots, 

 and sparsely armed with soft spinelike protuberances, densely 

 stellate-pilose while young, 3-valved, the valves bifid; seeds 



dark brown, about 4 mm. long, obscurely tuberculate. 



June. Thickets and thin woods in lowlands; Honshu, Shi- 

 koku, Kyushu; common. Ryukyus, Formosa, China, and 



Korea. 



10. SAPIUM R. Br. Shiraki Zoku 



Usually glabrous trees or shrubs; leaves alternate, petiolate, flat, penninerved, usually 2-gIandular at base of the blades or on 

 the upper part of the petioles; spikes or racemes terminal, simple or rarely in panicles; staminate flowers many, small, the calyx 

 2- or 3-lobed, toothed, membranous, the stamens 2 or 3, free; pistillate flowers I to few on the lower part of the otherwise stam- 

 inate inflorescence, the calyx 2- or 3-lobed; ovary 3-locular; styles sometimes connate at base, entire, reflexed; ovules solitary in 



each locule; fruit fleshy or berrylike, sometimes a capsule; seeds globose, arillate or not, with fleshy endosperm. About 100 



species, in the Tropics of die Old World. 



1. Sapium japonicum (Sieb. & Zucc.) Pax & Hoffm. 

 Stillingia japonica Sieb. & Zucc; Excoecaria japonica (Sieb. & 

 Zucc.) Muell.-Arg.; Triadica japonica (Sieb. & Zucc.) H. Baill.; 



Shirakja japonica (Sieb. & Zucc.) Hurusawa Shiraki. 



Glabrous small tree with pale grayish branches; leaves broadly 

 ovate, 7-15 cm. long, 5-10 cm. wide, abruptly acuminate to 

 acute, rounded and with a pair of glands at base, vivid to 

 deep green, entire, glaucous beneath, the petioles 2-3 cm. long, 

 the stipules lanceolate, scarious, deciduous, 7-12 mm. long; 



racemes short-pedunculate, 5-10 cm. long; staminate flowers 

 numerous, short-pedicellate; pistillate flowers on the lower 

 part of the spikes or racemes, the pedicels 1-2 an. long, the 

 calyx membranous, 3-parted, about 3 mm. long; capsules de- 

 pressed-globose, about 8 mm. across, yellow with brown 

 blotches. May-July. Thin woods in lowlands and moun- 

 tains; Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu; rather common. China, 



Korea, and Ryukyus. 



