Stillingia
(named in honour of Dr. Benjamin Stillingfleet, 1702-1771, an eminent English botanist). ORD. Euphorbiaceae. Thirteen species have been referred to this genus; they are stove or greenhouse, glabrous shrubs, inhabiting North and South America, the Mascarene and Pacific Islands. Flowers monoecious, apetalous; males often three under a bract, sub-sessile; females solitary under the lower bracts, sessile or very shortly pedicellate, few in a spike, or the spike sometimes all males; spikes terminal, simple; bracts short and broad, biglandular. Leaves alternate or rarely opposite, shortly petiolate, entire or glandular-denticulate. S. sebifera, the Tallow-tree of China, the proper name of which is Excaecaria sebifera, is the only species calling for mention here; it yields a hard wood, used by the Chinese for wood engravings; tallow is extensively obtained from the seeds, and the leaves are employed for dyeing black.