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Heptapleurum (From hepta seven and pleuron)

(from hepta, seven, and pleuron, a rib; in allusion to the ribbed fruit). SYNS. Paratropia and Sciadophyllum. ORD. Araliaceae. A large genus (about sixty species have been described) of tall shrubs or trees, widely distributed from Australia to Africa. Flowers pentamerous or hexamerous, collected into large panicles of racemes or umbels. Leaves alternate, digitate, compound or decompound. For culture, see Aralia. H. polybotryum (many-clustered). fl. green, small racemes 1ft. and upwards long, covered with minute, very deciduous, stellate pubescence. Winter. fr. globose, five-celled, the size of a peppercorn. l. alternate, digitate; petiole 5in. to 8in. long; slender, swollen at the base and apex, warted in the lower half; leaflets five to seven, 6in. to 8in. long, oblong-ovate to obovate-oblong, caudate-acuminate, quite entire; base rounded or cuneate. Stem covered with hemispheric warts. Java, 1860. A slender, sparingly-branched, large stove, shrub. (B. M. 6238.) H. venulosum (veined). fl. greenish. l., leaflets entire, acuminate. India. A small glabrous tree or climbing shrub. Stove.