Menispermum. —_ DIOECIA HEXANDRIA, 813 
7. M. tomentosum. Roxb. 
Perennial, twining. Leaves three-lobed, tomentose. Ra- 
cemes axillary ; petals entire. 
Beng. Pudma-goluncha, 
A native of hedges, and thickets, all over Bengal, but by 
no means common, Flowering time the months of February 
and March; the seed ripens in May and June. 
Stems twining up and over trees to a great extent. Bark 
of the older parts ash-coloured, with small, scabrous specks, 
that of the young shoots downy. Like some other species of 
this genus, viz. M. cordifolium, Willd. and verrucosum, Fu- 
nis felleus, Rump. Amb, v. t. 44. f. 1. tender filaments issue 
from various parts, which quickly descend into the ground, 
often from the height of some fathoms. This happens parti- 
cularly. when the lower part of the original plant has been 
destroyed, the succulent fragments remaining amongst the 
branches of the trees they run on, send out those fibres 
abundantly, some one, or more of which soon replaces the 
former stem and root,: A most wonderful economy for the 
preservation of these plants. Leaves alternate, petioled, of a 
roundish cordate shape, having the anterior margin generally 
three-lobed, soft and tomentose on both sides, particularly un- 
derneath, from three to five or six inches long, and nearly as 
broad. Petioles round, tomentose, nearly as long as the 
leaves. Style scarcely any. Stiqgmas with enlarged, rag- 
ged surfaces and margins. Berries, or drupes, nearly round, 
smooth, of the size of a marrowfat pea, from one to three 
together, when ripe of a deep orange colour. Seed solitary, 
rough, reniform, with a pit on the inside, and a furrowed belt 
round the exterior or convex side, Mate. Racemes ge- 
nerally simple, one, two, or more together from the buds at 
the axills of the fallen leaves. Bractes minute, caducous, 
many-flowered. Calyx, the exicrior three leaflets lanceo- 
late, very small; the interior three nearly round, first expand- 
ing, then recurved. Petals oval, entire, with the posterior 
margins incurved over the base of the filaments, Filaments 
