Poranthera.] EUPHORBIACEAE. 545 
at the base. Leaves all uniform, opposite, crowded, sessile or very shortly 
petiolate, }-+in. long, linear-oblong, obtuse, quite entire, smooth and 
veinless above; margins revolute, concealing the whole of the under- 
surface except the very thick and prominent midrib; stipules rather large, 
triangular. Flowers solitary in the axils of the upper leaves, forming 
short leafy heads, minute, greenish-white, dioecious; peduncles shorter 
than the leaves. Petals wanting in both sexes.. Sepals 5, oblong, obtuse. 
Stamens shorter than the sepals; filaments slender. Ovary subglobose, 
6-lobed, 3-celled. Capsule globose-depressed.—Hook. f. in Hook. Ic. Plant. 
(1881) t. 13668; Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. (1906) 629; Gruning on Pflanzenr. 
Heft 58. 
Sourn Istanp: Nelson—Rocky slopes on Mount Arthur and Mount Owen, 
T'. F.C. ; Mount Lockett, /. G. Gibbs ; Mount Murchison, W. Townson / 3000-5000 ft. 
December—February. 
A very peculiar little plant. It is distinguished from all the other species of the 
genus by the uniformly dioecious and apetalous flowers, which are solitary in the axils 
of the upper leaves, and by the more or less coriaceous stipules. Dr. Gruning, in his 
revision of the subfamilies Porantheroidexe and Ricinocarpoideae, published in the 
 Pflanzenreich ”’ (Heft 58), has constituted it a separate section (Oreoporanthera) 
of the genus. 
3. ALEURITES Forst. 177G. 
Trees with stellate pubescence. Leaves alternate, petiolate, large, 
entire or 3-T7-lobed. Flowers in terminal cymes, monoecious. Male 
flowers: Calyx splitting into 2-3 valvate segments. Petals 5, longer 
than the calyx. Stamens 8-20, on a central receptacle, 5 outer opposite 
the petals, alternating with 5 small glands; anthers adnate, cells parallel. 
Female flowers : Calyx and petals of the males. Ovary 2-5-celled ; styles 
2-5, bifid; ovules 1 in each cell. Fruit large, drupaceous ; exocarp some- 
what fleshy; endocarp 1-5-celled. Seeds large; testa thick, woody ; 
cotyledons broad, flat. 
A small genus of 5 species, natives of eastern Asia and the Pacific islands. 
——z 
= 
1. A. molueecana Willd. Sp. Plant. iv (1805) 590.—A handsome spread- 
ing tree 30-40 ft. high or more; young leaves and branches more or less 
clothed with pale or ferruginous stellate pubescence, almost. glabrous when 
old. Leaves crowded towards the ends of the branches, 4—9in. long, 
very variable in shape, ovate-lanceolate to broadly rhomboid:ovate, obtuse 
or acute, entire or 3—5- or 7-lobed. Cymes broad, much branched, tomentose ; 
pedicels short. Flowers numerous, white. Calyx very small,\ tomentose. 
Petals about $¢in. long, obovate, bearded at the base. Stamens 15-20; 
filaments short, hairy. Female flowers fewer and smaller than the males. 
Fruit 2in. diam., smooth, fleshy; seeds 1-2, rarely 3; testa rugose,— 
Benth. Fl. Austral. vi (1873) 128; Cheesem. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xx (1888) 
172; Man. N.Z. Fl. (1906) 629. 
KerRMADEC IsLANDS: Sunday Island, not uncommon on the northern and eastern 
sides of the island, 7. F. C. Candle-nut. 
Widely distributed in the Pacific islands and tropical Asia, also extensively planted 
and naturalized in hot countries. The seeds or “ nuts’ contain an excellent oil, so that 
in many parts of Polynesia they are strung on sticks and used as candles, whence the 
English name of *“ candle-nut.”’ 
