584 



XCVIII. EUPHORBIACEtE 



[Sapium 



31. SAPIUM, Patrick Browne ; Fl. Brit. Ind. v. 469. 



Trees and shrubs, 1. alternate, penninerved, often 2 glands on petiole below 

 insertion of blade. Fl. monoecious, apetalous in terminal simple or panicled 

 spikes or racemes, £ several or many, $ solitary in the axil of the bract, a 

 pair of large glands at the base of each bract, disk 0. $ : Calyx 2-3-toothed 

 or -lobed, stamens 2-3, filaments free, anther-cells contiguous, parallel, pistil- 

 lode 0. $ : Calyx 3-fid, ovary 2-3-celled, styles free or connate below, un- 

 divided, 1 ovule in each cell. Capsule loculicidally 3-valved. 



Fig. 183. — Sapium insigne, Benth. J. 



A. Spikes androgynous, the 5 n - usually in the lower portion. 



1. S. baccatum, Koxb. ; Wight Ic. t. 1950, called S. popuUfolium on plate ; Excwcaria 

 baccata, Muell. Arg. ; Carumbium baccatum, Kurz F. Fl. ii. 412. Vern. Billa, Silhet ; 

 Awle, Upper, Lelun, Lower Burma. Sikkim, foot of tbe hills and outer valleys. 

 Assam. Khasi hills. Chittagong. Burma, usually in evergreen forest. The young 

 shoots, which come out in April, are orange-red. A middle-sized, at times a large 

 glabrous evergreen tree, 1. ovate, or ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, quite entire, glaucous 

 beneatb, blade 3-7, pet. 1-3 in. Kacemes spiciform, usually arranged in large terminal 

 panicles, bracts, broadly-ovate, acute, with a large gland at each side, 3 S fl. usually 

 in one bract. Fl. minute, yellowish-white, stamens 2, anthers red, usually didymous. 

 Drupe red or purple, J-J in. diam., edible. 2. S. sebiferum, Eoxb. {Excwcaria sebifera, 

 Muell. Arg.), the Chinese tallow tree, a native of China, cultivated in North-West India. 

 Glabrous, 1. rhomboid, entire, on long slender petioles, fl. in terminal spiciform racemes, 

 ovary glabrous, narrowed into a style with 3 long, spreading stigmas. Seeds '3, 

 attached to a central column which splits into 3 slender divisions, enclosed in a thick 

 layer of white fatty substance (vegetable tallow). 3. S. indicum, Willd. ; Wight Ic. t. 1950. 



