584 



XCVIII. EUPHORBIACEiE 



[Baphmi 



31. SAPIUM, Patrick Browne ; M. Brit. Ind. v. 469. 



Trees and shrubs, 1. alternate, penninerved, often 2 glands on petiole below 

 insertion of blade. Fl. monoecious, apetalous in terminal simple or panicled 

 spikes or racemes, $ several or many, 5 solitary in the axil of the bract, a 

 pair of large glands at the base of each bract, disk 0. $ : Calyx 2~3-toothed 

 or -lobed, stamens 2-3, filaments free, anther-cells contiguous, parallel, pistil- 

 lode 0. 5 : Calyx 3-fid, ovary 2-3-celled, styles free or connate below, tan- 

 divided, 1 ovule in each cell. Capsule loculicidally 3-valved. 



Fig. 183. — Sapiiim insigne, Bentli. J. 



A. Spikes androgynous, the $ £. usually in the lower portion. 



1. S. toaccatum, Boxb. ; Wight Ic. t. 1950, called S. poptiUfoImm on plate ; Bxcmca^^ia 

 haccata, Muell. Arg. ; Carumhium baccatum, Kmtz F. F1. ii. 412. Yerii. Billa, Silliet ; 

 AwU, tipper, Leiun, Lower Burma. Sikkim, foot of the hills and outer valleys. 

 Assam. Khasi Mils. Ohittagong. Burma, usually in evergreen forest. The young 

 shoots, which come out in April, are orange-red. A middle-sized, at times a large 

 glabrous evergreen tree, 1. ovate, or ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, quite entire, glaucous 

 beneath, blade 3-7, pet. l-d in. Eacemes spiciform, usually ai-ranged in large terminal 

 panicles, bracts, broadly-ovate, acute, with a large gland at each side, 3 S fl. usually 

 in one bract. Fl. minute, yellowish-white, stamens 2, anthers red, usually didymous. 

 Drupe red or purple, J-J in. diam., edible. 2. S. sebiferum, Boxb. {Excoecaria sebifera, 

 Muell. Arg.), the Chinese fallow tree, a native of China, cultivated in North-West India. 

 Grlabrous, 1. rhomboid, entire, on long slender petioles, fl. in terminal spiciform racemes, 

 ovary glabrous, narrowed into a style with 3 long, spreading stigmas. Seeds^ 3, 

 attached to a central column which splits into 8 slender divisions, enclosed in a thick 

 -layer of white fatty substance {vegetable tallow). 3. S. indicum, "Willd. ; Wight Ic. 1. 1950. 



