Aleuritts.] CXVII. EUPHOEBIACE^. 1435 



about 1^ line long. Petals obovate, about 8 lines long. Stamens IS to 20, on a 

 «onvex hairy receptacle, the filaments also hairy, scarcely longer or sometimes 

 shorter than the anthers. Female flowers nearly similar to the males as to calyx 

 and corolla. Styles deeply divided into 2 branches. Fruit fully 2 inches 

 diameter. — Jatropha moluccana, Linn. ; Aleiirites triloba, Porst., and several 

 other synonyms, as given by Muell. Arg. I.e. 



Hab. : Eockingham Ba; and otbei' tropical scrubs. 



"Widely spread over the Eastern Archipelago and the islands of the South Pacific. 



Pruit when fresh eaten by aboriginals. 



Fruit one of the principal foods of the cassowary. 



The oil of the nuts of this tree is known in commerce as candle-nut or country walnut oil. 

 Mr. Staiger found the nuts to consist of the following: — The dry nuts — shell, 70' per cent.; 

 kernel, 30 per cent. Kernel freed from shell — ^oil, 54'3 per cent. ; amylaceous and nitrogenous 

 substance, 45-7 per cent. This latter gives lOJ per cent, ashes rich in phosphoric acid. 



Wood of a light color, soft and light ; if cut when full of sap liable to decay. — Bailey's Cat. 

 <il. Woods, No. 368. 



27. CROTON, Linn. 



(From the resemblance of the seed to a tick). 



Flowers monoecious or rarely dioecious in terminal racemes. Male flower : 

 Calyx of 5, rarely 4 or 6 segments, imbricate or almost or quite valvate in the 

 bud. Petals as many and usually as long as the calyx-segments. Glands small, 

 alternating with the petals. Stamens indefinite (5 to above 30), inserted on a 

 rather broad, usually hairy receptacle or disk ; filaments free, inflected in the 

 bud below the anther, erect and usually exceeding the expanded flower ; anthers 

 adnate to a connective continuous with the filaments, with 2 parallel cells opening 

 longitudipally. Female flower : Calyx- segments usually narrower than in the 

 males and sometimes enlarged. Ovary 3-celled (very rarely 2 or 4-eelled), with 

 1 ovule in each cell. Styles divided into 2 or 4 branches. Capsule separating 

 into a deciduous 2-valved cocci. Seeds smoothj_with a small carunculus ; testa 

 crustaceous or hard. Albumen copious ; cotyledons broad. — Trees, shrubs, or 

 rarely herbs, usually clothed or sprinkled with stellate hairs or scales, rarely 

 quite glabrous. Leaves alternate or very rarely opposite, sometimes almost 

 verticillate immediately under the inflorescence, petiolate, entire, variously 

 toothed or very rarely lobed, penniveined or rarely 3 or more nerved at the base, 

 -with 2 or more small sessile or stipitate glands at the top of the petiole or base of 

 the lamina. Stipules usually minute. Flowers usually clustered along the 

 rhachis of a terminal raceme, the bracts very small. 



The genus is a very large one, extending over the tropical regions of both the New and the 

 Old World. 



Stamens not more than 12. Leaves penniveined, rarely irregularly 3- 

 nerved at the base. 

 Jjeaves densely clothed underneath with a stellate scaly or silvery 

 tomentum. Female calyx under 1 line as well as the male. 



Styles with 2 rather broad branches 1. C. insularis. 



Styles with 4 elongated branches. 



Leaves all alternate . . . ... 2. C. phchalioides. 



Leaves all or nearly all opposite 3. C. opponens. 



Xeaves quite glabrous or very sparingly sprinkled when young with 

 stellate hairs or scales. 

 Leaves rather thin. Stamens 10 to 12. Capsule globular, scarcely 



furrowed 4. C. Verreaiixii. 



Leaves coriaceous. Stamens 5 to 8. Capsule longer than broad, 



scarcely furrowed . .... 5. C acronychioides. 



Leaves coriaceous. Stamens about 10. Capsule deeply 3-furrowed, 



3-lobed at the top 6. C. triacros. 



Stamens 20 to 30 or more. Leaves broad, 5 or 7-ncrved at the base, 

 densely stellate-tomentose 7. C arnhemicus. 



