GLOCHIDION NEILGHERRENSE. (Nat. order Euphorbiacese.) 



CrLOCHIDION. Forst. — QEN. CHAR. Flowers monoecious, in axillary clusters. Perianth-segments 6, or rarely 5-4 free or shortly united, 

 imbricate in the bud. Glands none. Male, stameuB 3 to 5 or rarely more. Anthers oblong, sessile on a central column, tipped by their projecting 

 connectivum. Female, ovary 3 to 10-celled, with 2 ovules in each cell. Styles short, erect and connivent in an oblong or globular mass or in a short 

 ring, or rarely spreading. Capsule globular or depressed, loculicidally dehiscent or separating into 2 valved cocci. Trees or shrubs. Leaves entire, 

 usually distichous on short petioles, but larger and coarser than in most Phyllanthi. DeCandollt makes this genus only a section of Phyttanthus. 



GLOCHIDION NEILGHERRENSE. (Wight.) A good sized tree glabrous, much branched, young branches fiexuose 

 more or less obtusely angled, leaves rather coriaceous elliptic lanceolate more or less oblique and attenuated at the base gradually 

 and bluntly ac umi nate at the apex, the margins a little waved, dark green above pale beneath, 3-5-i inches long by lj-lf broad, 

 petioles reddish 3-4 lines long convex on the upper side. Stipules subulate from a broad fleshy base which is adnate to the stem 

 below the petiole and there connate with its fellow, flowers solitary or several (3-4) together in the axils, bracts several very 

 minute in the axils round the pedicels. Male, pedicels slender 1-2 lines long slightly hairy, calyx 6-parted imbricate in 2 

 series the 3 inner being much narrower, 2-3 lines long, segments yellow linear to oblong slightly hairy on the outside, connectives 

 about £ longer than the anther-cell. Female, pedicels \ a line long or obsolete, calyx rather fleshy 1 J lines long somewhat tubular 

 with 4-6 unequal short triangular teeth some of which are often connate, style-column more than twice as long as the calyx, thick 

 truncate of equal thickness in its whole length or scarcely constricted just at the base, and with 4-5 short mammilate points at 

 the apex, minutely puberulous often only near its base within the calyx or quite glabrous, ovary 4-5 celled, fruit depresso-globose 

 umbilicately depressed in the centre about \ an inch long subglabrous. Wight leones v. 1907, letter press only. 



A very common tree on the Nilgiris at the higher elevations about Ootacamund, in flower in May; the male flowers are yellow, the female 

 greenish, lam not acquainted with the timber. 



Analysis. 



1 . Portion of a branch and leaf showing the stipule with its subulate free point and its adnate fleshy base. 



2. A male flower bud showing the imbricate sepals very slightly hairy on the outside. 



3. A male flower. 



4. A male flower fully open. 



6. Column of stamens removed. 



7. A female flower showiug the calyx and column of styles. 



8. Calyx opened (in this case 6-cleft lobes uuequal, but it varies much and is sometimes only 4-cleft. ) 



9. Column of styles cut vertically, showing the ovary at the base, ovules pendulous, collateral. 



10. A 4-celled young fruit cut transversely, cells 2 ovuled. 



11. A fi-celled young fruit. 



12. A portion of a branch iu fruit. (Drawn from living specimens collected at Ootacamund,) 



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