atoll research bulletin no. 392 the flora of - Smithsonian Institution ...

green, often mottled with various shades of red, dark pink or bronzy green, sometimes
with whitish or reddish-white margins resembling a thin marbling of fat on a beefsteak;
petioles, 2 to 10 cm long; stipules, 3 to 11 mm long, oblong-lanceolate; flowers,
monoecious, tiny, about 1 cm across, petal-less, borne alternately on slender axillary or
terminal spikes, 4 to 15 cm or longer; bracts, about 4 to 10 mm across, red to deep
purple, 5- to 13-toothed, only slightly cupular, subtending single flowers; male spikes
slender, elongated, hanging among lower leaves, accompanied by smaller bracts; female
spikes somewhat shorter, nearly erect, among leaves at branch tips, each cluster (1 to 5)
accompanied by a larger triangular, toothed bract, often with a rounded central lobe;
ovary, 1.5 to 2 mm wide, green, puberulent; styles whitish, hair- or bristle-like, curved;
fruit, a small capsule. Planted ornamental and hedge plant. 3(58743, 58757), 5(41), 6, 7.
Alcalypha amentacea Roxb. var. wilkesiana f. circinata (Muel1.-Arg.) Fosb.
te aronga (K)
syn. A. wilkesiana Roxb . f. circinata Muell. -Arg.
Recent introduction. Pacific Is. Occasional. Perennial shrub, up to 2 m tall;
leaves, 3 to 14 cm long and wide, suborbicular or reniform or broadly ovate, often
rounded at the apex, somewhat flabellinerved, green, commonly variegated with a white
margin. Planted ornamental, often as hedges. 3(58769), 5, 6, 7.
Acalypha hispida Burm. f. "cats' tail", "chenille plant", "red-hot poker"
Recent introduction. Indonesia. Rare. Perennial shrub, up to 2 m high; young
branches pubescent; leaves, 5 to 18 cm long and 3 to 10 cm wide, green, alternate,
ovate, dentate-crenate, acuminate, pinnately-nerved; petioles, 3 to 9 cm long; stipules, 5
to 10 mm long, oblong-lanceolate; flowers (female), axillary, petal-less, borne in
pendulous, bright-red, velvety, tassel-like spikes, 10 to 50 cm long and 1 to 2.5 cm in
diameter, resembling a cat's tail; bracts, minute, entire, subtending flower clusters; fruit,
not seen. Planted ornamental. 3(58705), 5, 6,.
Breynia disticha J.R. & G. Forst var. disticha f. nivosa (W.G. Smith) Croizat
"leaf-flower of the Pacific islands", "snow bush" eomonon (N)(Burges, 1933)
syns. B. nivosa (Bull) Small; Phyllanthus nivosus Bull
Pre-World War I1 introduction. Pacific Is. Rare. Perennial glabrous shrub, up to 3
m or taller, with slender, densely, two-ranked branches; leaves, 2.5 to 5 cm long,
alternate, 2-ranked or spirally arranged, oval-ovate, entire, green, variegated with white, --
pinkJighfr~~~purple,obtuse~~abruptlyp~ted~~~les,short; stipules, very small,
triangular acute; flowers, monoecious, small, green, petal-less, on short axillary pedicels;
male flowers, 3 to many, borne in close clusters (fascicles) in the lower axils; female