800 ASCLEPIADE (Brown). | Riocreuxia. 
Tuberous-rooted perennials with annual twining stems, often several feet in 
length ; leaves opposite, herbaceous, cordate ; flowers of moderate size, in laxly 
branching cymes, or in fascicles at the 2-3 nodes of simple peduncle-like flowering 
axes (which are bent at the nodes), with or without another fascicle at their base, 
or all compactly fasciculate at the nodes of the stem. 
Distris. Species 8, two of them in Tropical Africa. 
This genus is closely related to Ceropegia, differing chiefly in the character of its 
inflorescence, for whilst some of the species have a different corona, in others it is 
scarcely distinct from that of some species of Ceropegia. Some of the species 
cannot be discriminated without dissecting the flowers. 
Corolla marked with numerous longitudinal purple- 
brown veins; outer corona-lobes broadly ovate, 
connate into a sort of 5-lobed frill; inner corona- 
lobes obsolete ... is ne i one .-. (1) picta. 
Corolla not marked with purple-brown veins : 
*Outer corona-lobes conspicuous, radiating : 
Outer corona-lobes alternating with 5 pairs of minute 
teeth at their base; inner corona-lobes rather 
inconspicuous or minute : 
Peduncles cymosely or subpaniculately branching ; 
branches elongating and bearing two flowers 
MOON NOES:: 4 i we es ) 
Peduncles simple, bent at the nodes, bearing 
2-8 distant fascicles of 3 (rarely 2)-15 flowers (4) torulosa. 
Outer corona-lobes without any alternating teeth ; 
peduncles simple, bent at the nodes, bearing 
2-3 distant fascicles of 5-24 (on weak in- 
florescences fewer) flowers and usually another 
fascicle at their base : 
Inner corona-lobes not very conspicuous, only 
reaching to the base of the anthers ... ... (4) torulosa, var. 8, 
Inner corona-lobes conspicuous, linear or linear- . 
subulate, nearly as long as the anthers ... (5) Woodii. 
**Outer corona-lobes inconspicuous or minute, bifid or 
divided into 2 minute teeth turned face to face, 
without any alternating teeth at their base : 
Flowers 1-3 together at the nodes of the branches of 
laxly branched cymes 4-10 in. long ...  ... (2) polyantha. 
Flowers 5 to many together in fascicles at the stem- . 
nodes or on peduncles up to $ in. long ... ... (6) Flanagan. 
1, R. picta (Schlechter in Engl. Jahrb. xviii. Beibl. 45, 24) ; stem 
twining, usually glabrous, sometimes unifariously puberulous ; leaves 
herbaceous or thinly subcoriaceous, glabrous on both sides or 
minutely scaberulous along the borders ; petiole 3-2 in. long ; blade 
1}-7 in. long, ?-5 in. broad, cordate-ovate, acuminate, peduncles or 
axis of the cymes 1-4 in. long, bearing 2—3 distant (or occasion- 
ally 1) umbel-like clusters of flowers, bent in a zigzag manner at the 
nodes, glabrous ; pedicels 1-11 in. long, glabrous ; sepals 1-1} lin. 
long, subulate, glabrous; corolla glabrous, striped with dark 
brownish-red or purple-brown on a whitish or yellowish ground ; 
tube 5-6 lin. long, somewhat globosely inflated at the base, the 
inflation sometimes disappearing in dried flowers ; lobes connivent-— 
