84 
ROBINSON. 
does not at all agree with those of this species. An explanation may be that 
Blanco, having decided that his plant was P. niruri, described the leaves as they 
are in the latter, a procedure which he sometimes adopted: conversely, it would 
be difficult to see how he could have called this species P. niruri when the leaves 
were so different, had he not subsequently changed the name to P. tetrander, 
presumably believing that he had Roxburgh’s species, whose leaves are described 
as “broad-lanceolar, 2 to 4 inches long.” In every other respect, the 
species markedly agrees with Blanco’s description, as interpreted by Mueller ; and 
the other Philippine species closely approaching it, to which the description 
might almost equally well apply, are ones which Blanco can hardly have seen. 
In one respect Mueller wrongly described this species, in saying that the ovary 
is glabrous, a pure assumption on his part, as Blanco makes no reference to the 
point. It is accordingly thought desirable to append a partial description, 
especially of the flowers and leaves. 
Male flowers toward the base of the branches, borne on pedicels 2— t mm 
long : perianth-segments 4, lanceolate or sagittate, fimbriate, about 2 mm 
long; disk-glands 4, separate, shallow, discoid; filaments short, united, 
anther-cells (not anthers) 4, dehiscing transversely; rudiment of the ovary 
present but minute : female flowers in fascicles of 2 or 3, not seen near the 
bases of the branchlets, the pedicels about 1 cm long, conspicuously 
thickened near the apex ; perianth-segments 6, united, at the extreme base 
until a rounded sinus, linear-lanceolate, 3.5 mm long, the margins dentate- 
fimbriate except toward the somewhat narrowed base; disk thin, annular, 
but with 6 projections alternating with the perianth-segments, these 
projections shortly but widely stalked, suborbicular or notched, thickened 
at the apex; ovary villose, globose, 1-1.5 mm in diameter, 3- and less 
conspicuously 6-grooved, 3-celled, each cell containing 2 ovules, which 
are nearly oval in outline, about 0.6 mm long, with a brown testa; styles 3, 
bifid nearly to the base, the style-arms linear, about 0.5 mm long : leaves 
rhombic-oblong, usually broadest opposite the base, strongly inequilateral, 
those near the base of the branches the smaller, the rest 13-21 mm long, 
4.5-8. 5 mm wide, the lower margin nearly straight or at the extreme base 
slightly convex, the upper margin forming nearly a right angle with it, 
the apex of the leaf rounded, apiculate. 
17. Phyllanthus laciniatus sp. nov. § Eriococcus. 
Floribus masculinis mediocriter pedieellatis, fasciculatis ; perianthii 
segmentis 4, laciniato-fimbriatis ; filamentis brevissimis, connatis, antheris 
2, horizontaliter dehiscentibus : floribus femineis solitariis vel geminatis, 
longiter pedieellatis; perianthii segmentis 6, masculinis similibus; gland- 
ulis 6, subliberis ; ovario obscure pubescente, 3-loculari : foliis breviter 
petiolatis, rhombeo-ovoideis vel ellipticis, basi acutis vel rotundatis, apice 
mucronatis. 
Male flowers in fascicles of 4-8, borne on slender glabrous pedicels 4-7 
mm long; perianth-segments 4, ovate, 2 mm long, the margins laciniate- 
fimbriate ; glands 4, free, flattened, 1 mm wide at the outer margin, 
