58 Mr. Colebrooke on the Indian Species of Menispernium. 



inner side of the apex, short. Stigmas reflex. Drupes one 

 or two, rarely three ; lenticular, dark-purple, size of a lentil, 

 succulent, sessile on the scarcely-enlarged summit of the pe- 

 dicel. Nut lapideous, discoid; disk flat, smooth, thinnest 

 towards the base ; margin thick, broad, echinate with elevated 

 tubercles, and lobed with deepened furrows ; one-celled, one- 

 seeded ; with an anterior depressed chamber between the ap- 

 proximated plates of the disk. Seed solitary, uncinate, many- 

 lobed, as pitted by the ample furrows of the putamen. Peri- 

 sperm conform to the seed ; amygdaline, milk-white : one- 

 celled. Embryo inverse, uncinate, almost cyclical, occupying 

 the middle of the perisperm nearly in its whole length ; milk- 

 white. Cotyledons linear, curved. Radicle curved, opposite 

 the point of adhesion of the fruit on its receptacle. C. 



Cocculus sepium. C. 



Menispernium hirsutum. Roxb. citing Willd. iv. 829- 



Wal-tiedde and Keipisan. Gcert. ii. p. 488. t. 180? 



Leaves broad-cordate to linear-cordate, downy. Male flowers 

 racemed. Female axillary, solitary. R. Fl. Ind. Germs three, 

 semi-ovate, one-celled, containing solitary ovules attached to 

 the middle of the inside of the cell. Drupes 1 — 3, nearly round, 

 size of a small pea, marked on the inside near the base with 

 the remaining stigma, smooth, dark purple, full of purple juice. 

 Nut solitary, forming nearly a complete ring, with the joining 

 on the inner and underside between the persistent stigma and 

 insertion of the peduncle. Integuments three : exterior rugose, 

 consisting of four valves, which fall off spontaneously , exposing 

 the mediate, white, rugose, two-valved, nuciform tunic, perfo- 

 rated in the middle : inner very thin, adhering to the peri- 

 sperm. Perisperm conform to the seed, of a light brown co- 

 lour. Embryo inverse, annular (as in the Celosice). Cotyle- 

 dons 



