CEPHALOCROTON INDICUM. (Nat order. Euphorbiaceje.) 



CePHALOCROTON. Bail!.— GEN. CHAR. Male, calyx valvate 4-3 parted, petals 0, disk 0, stamens 4-8 inserted round the rudiment of an 

 ovary, when in a single row alternate with the lobes of the calyx, when in 2 rows the inner alternate with the outer, filaments free much exserted, 

 anthers fixed hy the middle of the back, cells equal adnate their whole length introrse, rudiment of ovary small and filiform or obovoid-cylindric, truncate, 

 or 2-3-cleft. Female, calyx 5-8 parted slightly imbricate the segments sometimes pinnatifid, disk or hypogynous, petals 0, ovary 3-celled, cells 1 ovuled, 

 style 3 joined at base iuto a short or long column, free above and spreading and irregularly twice or 3-timesdi-trichotomous, the divisions or arms papillose 

 asperous, capsule tricoecous 3-seeded or less from 1 or 2 of the cells being abortive, seeds not strophiolate subglobose. Trees or shrubs, with alternate 

 entire or toothed bistipulate leaves, ofteu pellueido-puuctate, flowers monsocious the male in compact heads, the female few at the base of the flowering 

 peduncles which are terminal or spuriously axillary or leaf-opposed. — Adeuochkeua, Eaill. Chloradenia, Baillon- Adenogynum, Rcichb. 



CEPHALOCROTON InDICUM. (Bedd.) A good sized tree up to 6-7 feet in girth, young parts and young leaves sparingly 

 furnished with mealy stellate pubescence, leaves alternate ovate, oblongo-ovate or almost elliptic entire, more or less pointed and 

 generally mucronate, membranaceous when young, in age subcoriaceous subglabrous except the costa, sometimes inconspicuously dotted 

 on the under side, 2| to 6 inches long by 1^-3 broad, the pinnate veins very prominent and raised beneath 5-7 on each side, the 

 veinlets and venules also prominent and reticulated, petioles 1|-1| inch long channelled above, inflorescence in terminal spikes 2-3 inches 

 long, all the parts furnished with very short stellate rather mealy pubescence, male flowers very numerous, in dense compact sessile in- 

 terrupted heads along the whole length of the flowering peduncle, calyx hardly more than J a line long 4-parted valvate aud quite 

 globose in bud, stamens 4 in a single row round the base of the rudimentary style more than twice as long the calyx-segments, rudi- 

 ment of the style filiform rather shorter than the segments inconspicuously 2-lobed at the apex ; female flowers few at the base of the 

 flowering peduncle 5-6 lines long (including the styles), calycine segments 7-8 lanceolate entire imbricate at the base often unequal in. 

 length sometimes with glands on the outside at the base, disk 0, the 3 styles joined into a short or elongated column at the base, free 

 and much spreading above and there each divided into 2 arms which are again bifurcate, all very papilloso-asperous, capsule tricoecous 

 subglobose 9-10 lines in diameter slightly scabrous. — Adenochlsena Indica, Bedd. in Distrib. 



This interesting tree is very common in the dense moist forests on the Anamallays, Tinnevelly and Travancore ghats, 1500-4000 feet, 

 generally on the banks of streams, and I have also fou-nd it sparingly in Coorg and S. Canara ; it is to be met with in flower and fruit ai all 

 seasons. I am not acquainted with its timber or uses, but the former issaid by the natives iobe very good and in use for building purposes. 



Analysis. 



1. A male flower-bud, sepals valvate. 



2. A male flower. 



3. The same open showing the short rudiment of a style and the 4 long stamens alternate with lobes of calyx. 



4. Anthers, front and back view, filament attached a little above the middle. 



5. Female flower with a short column to the styles, calycine-segments slightly imbricate at the base and some furnished with 



black glands. 



6. Female flower, the styles with a long column. 

 7, 8. Female calyx opened. 



9. Ovary aud styles. 



10. Ovary cut vertically, ovules pendulous from near the apex of the axis. 



11. Ovaiy cut transversely, 3-celled, cells 1-ovuled. 



12. Capsule, 3 cocci fertile. 



13. The same, 2 cocci only fertile. 



14. Base of young leaf to show the stipules. (All drawn from fresh specimens.) 



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