42 iv. MENISPEUMACE.E (oliver). [Jateorhiza. 



hiscing widely and transversely, showing the 4 minute cells. Female fl. : 

 Carpels 3, with reflexed divided or torn stigmas. Drupes ovoid, with the 

 scar of the style nearly terminal. Putamen rather concave (/. Columba) or 

 with a smaller open cavity (/. strigosa) on the inner face. Seed meniscoid; 

 albumen more or less ruminate. Embryo with laterally divaricate cotyledons. 

 — Climbers with large membranous palmately-lobed leaves. Male flowers in 

 long, slender, axillary, racemose panicles, usually sessile on the short lateral 

 branches ; female flowers in simple or nearly simple racemes. 



Basal-lobes of the leaves open or slightly overlapping at the sinus. Brac- 



teoles setose-ciliate. Filaments more or le3s united below . ... 1. J. strigosa. 



Basal-lobes rounded and not overlapping. Male inflorescence setose-hispid. 



Bracteoles setose-ciliate. Filaments free 2. J. Columba. 



Basal-lobes more or less overlapping. Male inflorescence nearly glabrous. 



Bracteoles sepal-like, without or sometimes with cilia 3. /. Miersit. 



1. J. strigosa, Miers in Fl. Nigrit. 213. An extensive climber; the 

 stem very rough, with spreading setae or hispid-pilose on the young branches. 

 Leaves 3-5-lobed ; base deeply cordate ; lateral and terminal lobes deltoid 

 or rounded with a short acumen, glabrous or glabrescent excepting on the 

 nerves and frequently the veins, which are more or less scattered with short 

 setae; 5-10 in. diam., on hispid petioles of variable length. Bracts of the 

 long slender racemose panicles of male flowers ciliate with long setae as well 

 as the bracteoles on the short lateral branches. Drupes setose, about £ in- 

 long. — Cocculns ? viacranthus, Hook. f. Fl. Nigrit. t. 18 (the male inflorescence 

 incorrectly drawn); Hook. Ic. PI. 759. 



Upper Guinea. Fernando Po, T. Vogel ! Barter ! Mann ! 

 Lower Guinea. Congo, Tuckey {Miers). 



2. J. Columba, Miers in Fl. Nigrit. 214, in note. Stem rough with 

 spreading setae or hispid. Leaves 5- or 3-Iobed, deeply cordate at the base, 

 terminal and lateral lobes extending one-third or halfway to the petiole, more or 

 less broadly ovate- or triangular-rotundate, or the central lobe broadly obovate, 

 each usually with a short acumen and sometimes a lateral tooth, shortly hispid 

 or hispid-pubescent above and below or sometimes glabrescent excepting on 

 the veins ; from 6 to 8 in. diam. to twice as large, on hispid petioles of 4-8 in. 

 Racemose panicles of male flowers very slender, 6 in. to 1 foot or more in 

 length, the flowers sessile or subsessile on the nearly glabrous, filiform, lateral 

 branches ; bracts and bracteoles setose-ciliate. Drupes ovoid, setose, in ra- 

 cemose clusters of 4-6 in., |-£ in. long, obtuse or scarcely pointed. — Cocculut 

 palmatus, DC. Syst. Veg. i. 522, and Wall. Cat. 4953 A. Menispermv* 

 Columba, Roxb. Fl. Ind. iii. 807. 



Moiamb. Distr. Zambesi, Dr. Kirk ! " near Oiba and Mozambique " (Roxb. Fl. 

 Ind. iii. 807). 



This plant furnishes the Columba root used in medicine. 



3. J. Miersii, Oliv. Stem sparsely setose or strigose. Leaves very 

 large, membranous, 5-lobed or with an additional obscure lobe on each side of 

 the deeply cordate base ; lobes broad, extending half to one-third of the 

 way to the petiole, very shortly acuminate or acute ; siuus at the base very 



