116 PLANTS OF PRINCE OF WALES ISLAND. 



Style conical, very short; Stigmas four, acute. Drupe 

 oblong, smooth, formed of the shut calyx. Seed : nut ovate, 

 one celled; with shell thin, brittle, ten streaked. Kernel oval, 

 smooth. 



This tree was brought from Amboyna and is cultivated in 

 some gardens. From the luxuriancy of its foliage, and the 

 regular disposition of its branches, it is very ornamental. The 

 pulp of the fruit, which is the persistent calyx, is of an orange 

 colour, and of a sweetish taste, with a mixture of astringency. 

 Eumphius says they are unfit to be eaten raw, as they cause 

 an itching in the mouth. The young leaves boiled are eaten 

 as spinach. The bark of the larger branches, prepared by 

 bruising, is spun into threads at Amboina for fishing nets and 

 other purposes. 



In some specimens, the lateral aments have only male 

 flowers; and I have never seen fruit borne on more than one 

 ament, which I conceive to have been in the middle. 



TRIANDRIA. 

 Zea. 



Zea mays. Cultivated, but sparingly. 



Phyllanthus. 



1. Phyllanthus cheramela, Roxb. Cicca disticha. Gmel. 2, 



287. Reich. 4, 125. Averrhoa acida. Syst. Nat. XII 

 3, p. 315. 



" P. arboreous, leaflets ovate; racemes nodding, calyxes 

 four leaved. Drupe, with nut four celled " Roxb. Cultivated 

 in gardens. 



2. Pliyllanthus agynus, H. (Breynia coronata). 



Shrubby, Leaves simple, alternate, bifarious; Peduncles 

 axillary, one flowered ; lower one, two or three together, male; 

 upper solitary female ; Calyxes six toothed ; nectaries wanting ; 

 no Style, Stigmas three converging ; Berries six seeded. 



Jour. Straits Branch 



