588 
Praia—A Review of the Genera 
specimen it had no flowers. But de Jussieu’s description of the male flower 
is not altogether clear, and his statement that the stamens are numerous 
(plurima) is not accurate. Poiret’s account of the relative position of the 
leaves and spines is accepted by de Jussieu, who also omits to note that the 
buds are perulate. The animadversion on Poiret’s account of the female 
flower is hardly called for: Poiret’s description is correct so far as it goes, 
though it fails to state that the ovary is adpressed strigose and is subtended 
by hypogynous scales. Still Jussieu’s explanation of Poiret’s supposed 
error is interesting from its reference to the fact that in this species the male 
pedicels are jointed well above the base. Neither Poiret nor A. de Jussieu 
allude to the fruit or the seed. 1 But, as Bentham has indicated, to A. de 
Jussieu belongs the merit of pointing out that this species, owing to the 
nature of its anthers, is more nearly allied to Claoxylon than to A delta. 
The account of Erythrococca given by Bentham when, in 1849, he 
founded the genus, is somewhat brief. It points out that the spines are 
stipular and that the stamens are definite, thereby removing two previous 
misapprehensions. But there is no reference to the bud-scales, to the 
presence of receptacular glands in the male flower, to the fact that the 
ovary is strigose, or to the existence of hypogynous scales. The account of 
the stamens implies that they are 1-seriate and states that the filaments are 
connate in a ring. The fruit is said to be * apparently ’ indehiscent, with 
a thin fleshy pericarp and a crustaceous endocarp. 
The account of Erythrococca by Baillon (Etud. gen. Euphorb., 437) in 
1858 deals at some length with the male receptacular glands, which are 
interpreted as a double disc. The stamens are described as more than 
1-seriate, though the details given differ from those which are usual; the 
filaments are again interpreted as united at the base. Nothing is added to 
Bentham’s account of the fruit, and Baillon does not note that the buds are 
perulate or that the ovary is strigose and subtended by hypogynous scales. 
This last omission was very soon rectified (Adansonia, i. 71); Baillon also 
soon discovered that the stamens are not always limited to a particular 
number (Adansonia, iii. 174). 
A fuller account of Erythrococca was given by Mueller (DC. Prodr., xv. 2, 
790) in 1866. The calyx is usually 3-partite, as Mueller says ; occasionally, 
however, the male calyx may be 4-lobed. The stamens, though usually 
6-7, as he states, may at times be more numerous; ix is the highest 
1 Poiret explains that he saw specimens, collected by Smeathman, in the herbaria of A. L. de 
Jussieu and of Desfontaines. It is possible that A. de Jussieu only saw the specimens which 
had belonged to A. L. de Jussieu. It is also possible that neither of these herbaria had received 
fruiting specimens of Smeathman’s plant, and it is further possible that A. L. de Jussieu never re¬ 
ceived a female specimen : Poiret’s account of the female flower may have been based on a specimen 
which belonged to Desfontaines. But these questions happen to be of no practical consequence 
here, because the ample suite of specimens of this species collected in Sierra Leone by Smeathman, 
which is preserved in the British (Natural History) Museum, includes both sexes and also shows 
ripe fruits. 
