woody, terete, rigid, sparingly or copiously branched, 
armed with stout recurved prickles, as are the petioles, 
midrib and sometimes the nerves of the leaf beneath, and 
often the peduncles. Leaves alternate, one to three inches 
long, long-petioled, oblong rounded or ovate, obtusely un- 
equally sinuately three- to five-lobed, smooth, shining, green 
on both surfaces. Peduneles usually leaf-opposed, but 
sometimes terminal from the arrest of a terminal bud, 
rarely axillary, solitary or accompanied by a single flowered 
pedicel, three- to six-flowered; peduncles and _ pedicels 
slender. Calyx small, green; lobes ovate, subacute. 
Corolla one to one and three-quarters of an inch broad, 
usually violet blue, but sometimes, according to Roxburgh, 
white; lobes ovate-oblong obtuse, midrib of each lobe 
white at the base, giving a stellate appearance to the base 
of the corolla. Stamens large, golden yellow. Berry glo- 
bose, the size of a large pea, smooth, scarlet.—J. D. H. 
Fig. 1, Flower with the corolla removed; 2, stamen; 3, pistil :—adZ enlarged. 
