‘Tan, 5207, 
CISSUS vELUTINUS. 
Velvety-leaved Cissus. 
Nat. Ord. AMPELIDE®.—TETRANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 
Gen. Char. (Vide supra, Tas. 4763.) 
Cissus velutinus ; caule scandente angulato ruberrimo, foliis petiolatis cordato- 
oblongis obtuse acuminatis denticulatis supra purpureo-viridibus ad venis 
sepissime albo pictis, subtus eximie sanguineis, pedunculis petiolo duplo 
triplove longioribus cymisque laxis ruberrimis. 
Cissus velutinus. Linden, Cat. 
In specific character the present species nearly approaches the 
Cissus discolor of Blume, to which, perhaps, it is too nearly re- 
lated, and is scarcely inferior to it in beauty. It wants, indeed, 
the warm, deep purple glow which prevails in the young foliage 
of the latter plant: but, on the other hand, the inflorescence is 
larger in the present species, and of the same coral-red all over, 
instead of the cymes and flowers being white, as in C. discolor. 
The leaves, though frequently marked with white lines followmg 
. the course of the veins, often lose them in age; and they are 
never spotted with transverse blotches, so conspicuous in discolor. 
Of its native country we are ignorant; probably the Malay 
Islands. It flowers at various seasons of the year in a warm 
stove, and readily increases by cuttings. The specific name is 
better merited in the young shoots of the plant, which are 
clothed with a soft velvety pubescence, but which is deciduous, 
and in age the foliage is generally quite glabrous. 
Descr. Habit and mode of growth entirely that of C. discolor 
(see our Tab. 4763). Leaves the same in form, but considera- 
bly different in colour and markings. The deep purple hue is 
almost entirely wanting, and the white blotches of C. discolor 
give place to broad lines of white following the course of the 
costa, veins, and veinlets, yet becoming obsolete in age. ‘The 
chief distinction resides in the length of the peduncle, which is 
_ twice at least that of the other in the larger and laxer cyme, and 
in the flowers being of the same intense coral-red as the pe- 
OCTOBER IsT, 1860. 
