1444 CXVn, EUPHOEBIACE^. [Acalypha. 



3. A. eremorum (solitary), Miiell. Arr/. in Flora 1864, 440, and in DC. 

 Prod. XV. ii. 863 ; Benth. Fl. Austr. vi. 132. A rigid shrub, with virgate or divari- 

 cate rather slender branches occasionally spinescent at the end, glabrous or the 

 young shoots and foliage pubescent. Leaves small and distant, very shortly 

 petiolate, oblong, orenate, contracted at the base, ^ to lin. long, or on some of the 

 lateral branches much smaller and almost obovate. Male racemes slender, pube- 

 scent, from under J to nearly lin. long, the flowers minute, in dense usually approx- 

 imate clusters, the bracts very minute. Female flowers solitary, dimorphous, 

 mostly nearly sessile, alone or near the base of the male spikes, within a bract of 

 2 to 2| lines diame,ter deeply toothed or lobed. Perianth-segments 3, minute but 

 broad. Ovary pubescent. Styles fringed in the upper half. Capsule tridymous, 

 nearly glabrous, about 1 line diameter. Some female flowers are however borne 

 on a filiform pedicel of 4 to 5 line^, the bract then very small and the capsule 

 deeply divided into 3 muricate obovoid cocci. * 



Hab.: Brisbane Eiver, Ftosct ; serab on theBurdekin, F. d. iliueMer ; RockhamptOn, DaWnc/ii/ 



4. A., capillipes (hair-like stalks of female flowers), F. r. M. ; Miull. Arg. 

 in Linncea xxxiv. 40, and in DC. Prod. xv. ii. 823; Benth. Fl. Atistr. vi. 133. A 

 tall shrub or small tree, with divaricate slender branches, the smaller ones 

 often articular and spinescent, resembling the spinescent specimens of ^. eremorum, 

 with which Bailion unites it as a variety. It is more glabrous, the leaves rather 

 broader and thinner, the male spikes filiform, with still smaller flowers in distant 

 clusters, the females apparently all solitary on filiform peduncles off to lin., 

 with a normal orbicular bract of nearly 2 lines diameter, the capsule glabrous and 

 tridymous but the cocci not deeply separate as in the pedunculate fruits of ^. 

 eremorum, the styles with much more numerous capillary branches than in that 

 species. 



Hftb.; On the borders of southern scrubs. 



84. ALCHORNEA, Swartz. 

 (After a botanist of the name of Alohorne.) 

 (Cladodes, Lotir. ; Coelebogyne, J. Sm.) 

 Flowers dioecious or rarely monoecious, in terminal or axillary racemes or 

 spikes. Male flower : Perianth globular and closed in the bud, opening in 4, 

 rarely 3 or 2, valvate segments. No petals or glands. Stamens 8 or more, 

 rarely 4, in the centre of the flower, without any rudimentary ovary ; filaments 

 free "or very shortly united ; anthers versatile, the cells parallel, opening 

 longitudinally in 2 valves. Female flower : Perianth of 4, rarely 8, 5 or 6 

 segments or lobes, imbricate in the bud. No disk in the Queensland species. 

 Ovary 2 or 3-celled, with 1 ovule in eac'h cell. Styles entire or 2-branched, free 

 or shortly connate at the base. Capsule- separating into 2-valved cocci. Seeds 

 without any carunculus. Testa crustaceous. Albumen copious. Cotyledons 

 flat, much broader than, tjie radicle. — Trees or shrubs. Leaves alternate, 

 petiolate, undivided, toothed or in one species almost lobed, with 2 or more 

 glands on the under side at the base of the lamina. Stipules small, usually 

 subulate, or none. Male spikes slender, interrupted, often paniculate, the flowers 

 very s'Jiall, clustered along the rhachis, with a small bract under each cluster. 

 Female spikes or racemes usually single, the flowers solitary within each bract. 



The genus is spread over the tropical regions of both the New and the Old World. The two 

 Australian species are endemic. 



Leaves coriaceous, with broad short prickly-pointed lobeg. Styles short, 



broad, spreading flat on the top of the ovary 1. A. ilicifolia. 



Leaves thin, with obtuse or shortly pointed teeth. Styles erect, narrow, 



connate at the base 2. A. Thozetiana. 



