EXOECARIA

Exoecaria L., Syst. Nat., ed. 10, 2: 1288. 1759; Muell. Arg. in DC., Prodr. 15(2):1201. 1866; Benth. & Hook. f., Gen. Pl. 3(1): 337. 1880; Hook. f., Fl. Brit. Ind. 5: 472. 1890; Pax in Pflanzenreich 4. 157. 1912; Bingtao & Esser, Fl. China @ eFloras.org 11: 280; Radcliffe -Smith, Fl. Pak. @ eFloras.org p. 86.

Trees or shrubs, dioecious or monoecious, glabrous, with milky juice. Leaves alternate or opposite, simple, petiolate; stipulate, stipules small, caducous; leaf blade entire or serrulate, penninerved, eglandular. Flowers unisexual, apetalous, without disc, in axillary or terminal raceme-like thyrses. Male bracts 1 to many-flowered, usually biglandular at the base. Male flowers: +/-Sessile. Sepals 2-4, free or united at base, imbricate. Petals 0. Disc 0. Stamens 2-3-(8), anthers basifixed, extrorse, longitudinally dehiscent. Pistillode 0. Female flowers: Sessile to pedicellate. Sepals 2-3, free or connate at base, lobes imbricate. Petals 0. Disc 0. Ovary 2-3-locular, with 1 ovule per loculus; styles 2-3, free or slightly connate at base, entire, coiled, eglandular. Fruit 2-3-lobed, septicidally dehiscent into 2-valved cocci, slightly fleshy; columella persistent, winged. Seeds globose, estrophiolate, seeds leaving the caruncle adnate to columella.

37 species

Exoecaria cochinchinensis

Exoecaria cochinchinensis Lour., Fl. Cochinch. 2: 612. 1790; Bingtao & Esser, Fl. China @ eFloras.org 11: 280; E. cochinchinensis var. viridis (Pax. and K. Hoffm.) Merr., Philipp. J. Sci. 15: 244. 1919; E. bicolor (Hassk.) Zoll., Retzia 1: 158. 1855.

Evergreen, dioecious shrub, up to 1 m tall with milky latex; branches glabrous, many lanticellate, often much branched. Leaves opposite, rarely alternate; stipulate, stipules ca. 1 mm long; petiole 3-10 mm, eglandular at apex; leaf blade 6-12 cm x 2-4 cm, glabrous, adaxially green, abaxially purple or dark red or green or greenish abaxially when old, base attenuate, margin serrulate, apex long acuminate; midvein convex on both surfaces lateral veins 8-12. Flowers dioecious in axillary or terminal racemes.

Male inflorescences 1-2 cm. Male flowers: Pedicels ca. 1.5 mm; bracts broadly ovate, 1-flowered. Sepals 3, linear- lanceolate, +/- entire. Stamens 3, exserted (Male plants not observed).

Female inflorescences 8-10 mm long, 3-5 flowered. Female flowers: Pedicels strong, 1.5-2 mm long, bracts broadly ovate, ca. 2.5 mm x 2.5 mm, serrulate inside base, 2-glandular at base; bractlets 2, linear, ca. 1.5 mm, 2- glandular at base. Sepals 3, slightly connate at base, ovate, ca. 1.8 mm x 1.2 mm. Ovary globose, glabrous, roughly triangular to 3-lobed, 3-locular, one ovule per loculus, axile placentation; styles 3, free or +/- connate at base, ca. 2.2 mm.

Capsule globose, ca. 8 mm in diameter, truncate at base, concave at apex. Seeds nearly glabrous, ca. 2.5 mm in diameter. (Fruit not observed)

Flowering and Fruiting: Almost throughout the year
Common Names: Chinese Croton; Laila Majnu (Hindi) by local gardeners