THE BOTANY OF CHRISTMAS ISLAND. 223 



Croton caudatus, Geisel. 



A woody climber with rough ovate leaves which 

 turn orange red long before falling, making the plant 

 very conspicuous. Flowers in short racemes, yellowish 

 white. 



Very abundant and often troublesome to get 

 through. Phosphate Hill, North East Point, Andrew's 

 Look-out etc., and on most of the shore terraces near 

 the sea. I only met with it in male flower as did 

 Andrews. It certainly does not seem very floriferous 

 here. 



Distribution India, Ceylon, Malay Peninsula, Java, 

 Philipines. 



This is not typically a sea shore plant. The fruit 

 may however be dispersed by sea. 



Claoxylon ccerulescens, n. sp. 



A large bush with white stems. Leaves light green 

 ovate acute or acuminate crenulate dentate 6 inches 

 long, 3 inches wide, pubescent on the back, especially 

 on the nerves, turning indigo-blue when withering. 

 Flower spikes woolly axillary \ inch long. Calyx 4 

 lobed, lobes ovate woolly green, ovary pubescent. 

 Hypogynous scales shorter than the sepals linear entire, 

 stigmas entire recurved. Fruit obconic \ inch long, 

 hairy outside and in the cells green soft obscurely 

 trilobed. Seed sub-globose wrinkled. 



Common, Rocky Point, Phosphate Hill. 



The fruits, seed and ovary when dried and poisoned 

 with spirits become of a pink color. This plant is ob- 

 viously the one recorded by Rendleas Claoxylon rubescens, 

 Miq. based on a plant of Zollinger's collected in Java, 

 Miquel's description is short and differs from the Christ- 

 mas Island plant in most respects, thus the peduncle and 

 petiole are described as rubescent, the top of the 

 petiole glandulous, the base of the leaf acute, the leaf 

 itself glabrous, the spikes graceful, and soon glabrous, 



B. A. Soc, No, 45, 1905 



