Gymnema. | XCV. ASCLEPIADEZ. (J. D. Hooker.) 29 
Column short; anther-tips small, membranous ; pollen-masses one in each cell, 
ovoid-oblong, waxy, pedicelled, erect. Stigma large, conical, clavate or capitate, 
exserted. Follicles slender or turgid, terete, smooth, acuminate. Seeds comose. 
—Disrris. Species 25; Asiatic, African, and Australian. 
_* Corolla-tube short, with fleshy coronal processes on the throat, the free 
points of which (except in rotundatum) protrude above the sinus, and are 
produced downwards on the tube as double villous ridges. Bracts obsolete. 
l. G. sylvestre, Br. in Mem. Wern. Soc. i. 33; branches slender and 
petioles cymes and sepals finely closely pubescent, leaves 1-23 in. elliptic or 
obovate acute rarely cordate glabrous or puberulous beneath, cymes small 2-nate 
peduncled nearly flat, corolla 3, in. diam. lobes glabrous, follicles slender 
glabrous, seeds narrow. Wight Contrib. 44, and Ic. t. 349; Wall. Cat. 8184 A; 
Dalz. & Gibs. Bomb. Fl. 151; Grah. Cat. Bomb. Pl. 190; Dene. in DC. Prodr. 
viii. 621. G. melicida, Edgew. Banda Fl. 50. Periploca sylvestris, Willd. Sp. 
Pi. i. 1252. Asclepias geminata, Roxb. Hort. Beng. 20, and Fl. Ind. ii. 45. 
Bawpa, Edgeworth. Deccan PENINSULA; from the Concan to Travancore.— 
Distris. Trop. Africa. 
A stout large woody climber. Leaves rarely pubescent above, thinly coriaceous; 
petiole slender or stout, }-} in. Cymes 4 in. diam., subglobose, pedicels slender. 
Corolla-lobes short. Follicles 2-3 by 4 in. terete, rigid. Seeds X in. long, narrowly 
ovoid-oblong, flat with a broad thin wing, pale brown.—The leaves in Wight’s figure 
are unusually large. 
Var. ceylanica; leaves ovate base cordate softly pubescent on both surfaces. G. 
sylvestre; var. Decaisneana, Thw. Enum. 197, excl. syn.—Ceylon, ascending to 3000 ft. 
2. G. hirsutum, Wight § Arn. Contrib. 44 ; branches petioles leaves on 
both surfaces and cymes densely softly pubescent, leaves 14-24 in. broadly ovate 
or cordate acute or acuminate, cymes 2-nate subsessile few- or many-fid., corolla 
1 in. diam., lobes thick ciliolate, follicles slender glabrous. Wight Ic. t. 1272; 
Wall. Cat. 8185; Dene. in DC, Prodr. viii. 622. G. Decaisneanum, Wight Ic. 
t. 1271. 
Brnar; at Rotas, J. D. H.; Nilgherry Mts., Wight, &c. 
Much stouter than G. sylvestre, with broader more ovate and cordate leaves softly 
pubescent on both surfaces with shorter thicker petioles, and much larger flowers, in 
more sessile cymes with shorter thicker pedicels.—'The Behar specimen is in fruit only 
and may belong to G. sylvestre, though the leaves are pubescent on both surfaces. I 
have seen no ripe seeds of the Nilgherry plants. In Wight’s figure of G. Decaisneana, 
the leaves are glabrous above, which is opposed to his description and specimens. The 
distinctions he indicates between this and hirsutum do not exist. 
3. G. molle, Wall. in Wight Contrib. 45, and Cat. 8186 ; branches petioles 
leaves beneath and cymes finely pubescent, leaves ovate oblong or cordate acute 
or acuminate, cymes subsessile dense-fld., corolla à in. diam. lobes ciliate, 
follicles woody broad turgid below the middle pubescent, seeds ovate. Dene. in 
DC. Prodr. viii, 622. 
Upper Burma; Irawaddi, near the Petroleum wells, and at Taong-dong, Wallich. 
A stout climber. eaves very variable, some 2-24 by 1-1} in., others 3 in. and 
as broad, deeply cordate, above glabrous or puberulous; petiole slender, 1-3 in. 
Cymes small, irregular. Sepals hirsute. Corolla-lobes thickened, glabrous.  Follicles 
21-3 in. 3-1 in. brcad at the thickest part. Seeds 4 in. long, very different from 
those of the preceding species.— This is very near the Chinese G. affine, Dene. (G. 
parviflorum, Wall. Tent. Fl. Nep. 50), which has broad seeds and similar follicles, 
but the flowers are larger. Though Upper Burma is beyond British India, the species 
is so likely to be found in the latter that I (as in like instances) introduce it. 
