316 
EUPHOBRIACEiE. 
\_Acalgpha. 
5. A. reticulata, Mull. Arg. in DC. Prod. xv. 2, 851. A shrub, 
with slender glabrous terete branchlets, Leaves membranous, always 
green, glabrous, ovate or oblong, obtuse or acute, 2-4 in. long, crenu- 
late or nearly entire ; petiole ^-1 in. long, glabrous or puberulent ; 
stipules subulate. Male spikes numerous, slender, flexuose, 2-4 in. 
long, sessile or short-ped uncled. Female flowers few, 1-3 sessile or 
ped uncled in tbe axils of the leaves or at the base of the male spikes, sub- 
tended by a round coriaceous entire bract ^-^in. broad. Ovary prickly ; 
styles short, pectinately laciniated. Capsule glabrous, the size of a pea. 
Seeds smooth. Tragia reticulata, Poir. Encgcl. vii. 725. Acalypha 
lantansefolia and filiformis, Bojer , Hort. Maur. 286. 
Mauritius, in woods of the Pouce and Piton dn Milieu de l’lsle. Also Bourbon, 
Comoros, Madagascar, and St. Helena. 
* Manihot utilissima , Pohl Ic. t. 24; Mull. Arg. in DC. Prod. xv. 2, 
1064) ; Janipha Manihot, Kunth; Bot. Mag. t. 3071 ; Bojer, Hort. Maur. 
282), the commonly-cultivated Cassava, is often found in Mauritius, 
the Seychelles, and Eodriguez, about abandoned plantations. It is an 
erect perennial, with a stout root reaching a length of 3 feet with 
abundant farina and milky juice, stems 6-8 feet high, deeply palmate 
or rarely entire long-petioled glabrous membranous leaves glaucous 
on the under side, flowers in lax axillary monoicous racemes or panicles, 
a petaloid 5-partite perianth much larger (•§■— | in». long) in the female 
than the male flowers, a disk present in both sexes, 10 biserial in- 
cluded stamens inserted round the disk, a 3-celled ovary surrounded 
by 10 staminodes, and a capsular fruit half an inch long, with 6 rugose 
narrowly -winged valves. There are two varieties, one with a red 
(. Manioc rouge) and the other with a blue stem {Manioc bleu). It is 
probably a native of South America. 
* Bicinus communis, Lima. ; Mull. Arg. in DC. Prod. xv. 2, 1017, 
(the castor-oil plant), a native of Tropical Asia, is commonly cultivated 
and casually subspontaneous in Mauritius, Eodriguez, and the Sey- 
chelles. It is an erect glabrous shrubby perennial with long-petioled 
large peltate palmatifid leaves with toothed acute lobes, monoicous 
monochlamydeous fascicled flowers in racemes or little-branched pani- 
cles, a membranous 5-partite perianth, stamens very numerous (up to 
1000) connate in dichotomous fascicles, and a round muricated 3-celled 
capsule each cell of which contains a smooth oblong mottled copiously 
oleaginous seed. Palma Christi. 
9. DALECHAMPIA, Linn. 
Flowers of both sexes placed together in a 2-leaved foliaceous 
involucre. Disk and petals 0. Male perianth of 4-5 entire pieces. 
Stamens central, usually about 20 ; filaments connate ; anthers 2-celled. 
Ovary 3-4-celled ; ovules solitary in the cells ; styles 3-1 connate in a 
long column dilated ,at the top. Fruit a 3-4-coccous capsule. Seeds 
not carunculate. — Twining herbs or shrubs with alternate leaves and 
