1878 . ] 
PHYLLANTHUS ROSEO-PICTUS. 
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1 o 
PHYLLANTHUS ROSEO-PICTUS. 
S HIS veiy elegant-habited stove shrubby 
plant, introduced from the South Sea 
Islands, is referred in gardens to the 
genus Phyllanthus , but its true name, so far as 
we know, has not yet been determined. It is 
a deciduous shrub, casting its leaves in winter, 
and is of erect bushy habit, with terete stems, 
and numerous branches, the branches being 
abundantly clothed with bluntish broadly-ovate 
leaves nearly an inch in length, and producing 
flowers of the inconspicuous character which is 
observable in very many plants of the same 
order—the Euphorbiacece. 
Of this plant three forms or varieties have 
been introduced. The first was called Phyllan¬ 
thus nivosus, and in this, which is marked by 
snowy variegation, the leaves are more or less 
freely mottled with white, which sometimes 
extends nearly over their entire surface, and 
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mm. 
Phyllanthus boseo-pictus. 
gives a marked character to the plant. The 
women of the island of Tanna are said to use 
the sprays of its snow-white foliage as a head¬ 
dress, intermingling them with their dark- 
coloured tresses. The next introduced was 
called Phyllanthus atropurpureus , which is 
chiefly remarkable for its purple stems and 
foliage, the leaves, which on their first expan¬ 
sion are dark green, changing, under the influ¬ 
ence of light, to a rich dark purple hue. 
The subject of the present note and illustra¬ 
tion, obtained from Messrs. Veitch and Sons, 
is the third and by far the most beautiful of 
the series. It has the same terete stems, bushy 
habit of growth, and bluntly ovate leaves as 
the other forms, but “ the variegation is ex¬ 
ceedingly rich and varied, both in colour and 
form, no two coloured leaves showing precisely 
the same markings with like tints. Many of 
the leaves arc bright crimson, which is also 
