This genus is, it appears to me, justly referable to
Antidesmece, though, so long as the mature fruit remains
unknown, a doubt must exist oil that point.
The difference of the anthers tends to strengthen that
doubt, but those of the hermaphrodite flowers of the
preceding plate help to reconcile us to the difference.
In the analysis the draftsman has been careless
and has failed to show the disk of the male flower.
I t is similar to that shown in the female one.
1992. Astylis venusta. (R. W.)
. Neilgherries, western slopes, growing near the
banks of streams, flowering May and June. On the
banks of the stream at Mr. Ouchterlony’s coffee
plantation.
1993. ' E uphorbia Cattimandoo (W . Elliot),
shrubby or arboreous, erect, 5-sided with prominent
repand angles; stipulary thorns paired, short subulate
: leaves sessile, succulent, deciduous, obovate, sub-
cuniate, cuspidate, glabrous: peduncles crowded, 3-
flowered, the middle one usually sterile and the lateral
ones fertile, sometimes the reverse, flowering after the
fall of the leaf.
Vizagapatam district, in great abundance, flowering
from March to May, or even the beginning of June.
This plant is so much like Euphorbia trigona, No.
1863, above, that I should scarcely have thought of
introducing it here, but for the valuable product
which it yields to the arts, and which, when better
known, may be found but little inferior, for many
purposes, to Gutta Percha. The drawing represents
the plant in 3 states: 1st, quite naked as it appears
before flowering; second, covered with flowers, and
lastly as it appears in July and August covered
with young leaves. In size it varies from 8 to 12
or 14 feet, rarely higher. The stem is 3-4 feet high
surmounted by a round branchy head. The milk
of this plant yields the product above referred to.
I t is obtained by cutting off the branches, when it
flows freely. “ I t is collected and boiled on the spot,
a t which time it is very elastic, but after being formed
into cakes or cylinders it becomes resinous or brittle,
in which state it is sold in the bazaars and employed
as a cement for fixing knives into handles and other
similawpurposes, which is effected by heating it. I t
is also employed medicinally, as an outward application
in cases of Rheumatism. The piece I sent you
was prepared by Mr. Healy, and was, I think, boiled
in water. I t is much superior to what is sold in the
bazaar, but it has not the valuable property, like
Gutta Percha, of being ductile at all times. I t can
be made to take any shape when first boiled, but as
far as we know, not afterwards, though some plan
may be found for making it more pliant afterwards.”
The above notes were communicated by Mr. Walter
Elliot. Judging from the above mentioned sample of
the Cattimandoo, now before me, I should suppose
that, were it in the hands of men accustomed to work
in such material, it would soon be turned to valuable
account. I find, when exposed to the heat of a fire
or lamp it rapidly softens and becomes as adhesive
to the hands as shoemakers’ wax, but when soaked
for some time in warm water (150° to 180°) then it
slowly softens, becomes pliable and plastic and in
that state takes any required form. But my experiments
with it have been too few and cursory to
admit of my drawing any conclusions from them, and
I only mention them because they seem to encourage
the hope that the concluding remarks of Mr. Elliot
still want confirmation.
CjIORISANDRA. (R. W.)
Gen. Char. Dioecious (always ?). Male : calyx
six-parted with six depressed flattened glands. Stamens
six, equal, free to near the base, alternate with
the glands; filaments filiform subulate; anthers short,
ovate, 2-celled; cells parallel opening longitudinally.
Female: calyx 5-p‘arted (always), lobes somewhat
unequal: glands 5, alternate with the lobes of the
calyx. Ovary 3-celled with 2 ovules suspended from
about the middle of the axis in each: style short, 3-
cleft, stigmas revolute. Capsule 3-celled, usually, by
abortion, 3-seeded, splitting into six valves. Seed
globose.—A low ramous shrub, 3-5 feet high. Leaves
alternate, pinnate; leaflets alternate, oval, obtuse at
both ends, glabrous. Male flowers axillary, aggregated
in dense fascicles: calyx lobes imbricating in aestivation,
reflexed when full blown: glands depressed,
covering the bottom of the calyx and concealing the
insertion of the stamens; flower buds globose. Female
flowers few, one or two from the base of the
petiols, long pedicelled. Capsule globose crowned
with the persistent style; glabrous. The distinguishing
feature of this genus is the number and freedom
of the stamens; and the inflorescence is peculiar
when viewed in connection with that of the sub-division
of the tribe (PhyUanthece) , to which it belongs.
In truth it seems almost a Phylianthus in habit.
1994. Chorisandra pjnnata. (R. W.)
Abundant in arid laterite soils along the western
shores of the Pulicat lake, where it forms extensive
low jungles (within about 20 or 25 miles in a northwest
direction from Madras). I t is also found in the
Northern Circars whence I received specimens from
Mr. Walter Elliot. Being thus extensively distributed
I wonder that it still remains an undescribed
plant, but yet I do not recognise it under any of
either Willdenow’s or Roxburgh’s species, of either
Phylianthus, to which genus I think they would most
probably have referred it, or in any other allied genus.
As a genus, I feel certain it is not taken up.
W agatea. (Dalzell, Hooker’s K. G. MisceL vol.
3, p. 90.)
Gen. Char. Calyx 5-cleft, tube cup-shaped, limb
deciduous, lobes imbricated in «estivation, the inferior
one somewhat larger, concave. Corolla; petals 5,
equal, uniform, unguiculate, inserted on the top of the
tube of the calyx. Stamens 10, inserted with the
petals, all fertile, alternately shorter. Ovary stipi-
tate, 4-6-ovuled; style filiform; stigma hollow, 2-
liped, fringed, upper lip half-orbicular, lower one
larger, cucullate. Legume linear acute, coriaceous,
transversely constricted between the seed, thickened
on the margin, seed 3-4, obovate oblong, testa thick,
hard and bony.—A scandent shrub everywhere, except
the spikes, armed with recurved prickles. Leaves
bipinnate; pinnaj 5-6 pairs; leaflets 5-6 pairs, sub-
cordato-ovate obtuse or sub-emarginate, shining above,
a little downy. Spikes terminal, long (1-2 fe et);
flowers numerous, close set, calyx bright red; petals
orange yellow, and, being confined by the calyx lobes,
never expand: stamens length of the petals, filaments
hairy at the base, anthers roundish, ovary pilose;
legume glabrous, thick and somewhat spongy.
D