166 THE VOYAGE OF H.M.S. CHALLENGER. 



ASCLEPIADE^). 

 Calotropis gigantea, E. Br. 



Caloiropis gigantea, R. Br. ; Hook, f., Fl. Brit. Ind., iv. p. 17 ; Miq., Fl. Ind. Bat., ii. p. 481 ; Rumph., 

 Herb. Amb., vii. p. 24, t. 14, fig. 1. 



Lakor ; Timor Laut ; Letti. — Common throughout India, from the Punjab to Assam, 

 Ceylon, and Singapore : also in South China and in the Archipelago ; but hitherto not 

 found in Australia. The root and leaves are used medicinally in Java, according to 

 Miquel. There are two other species of the genus, which is confined to the warmer parts 

 of Asia and Africa. 



Asclepias curassavica, Linn. 



Asckpias curassavica, Linn. ; Benth., Fl. Austr., iv. p. 326; Hook, f., Fl. Brit. Ind., iv. p. 18; Miq., 

 Fl. Ind. Bat., ii. p. 485; Seem., Fl. Vit, p. 161. 



Arrou ; Ki. — An herbaceous plant, native of the West Indies, and now spread all over 

 the tropics, partly dispersed as a weed of cultivation, but doubtless greatly extended by 

 means of its comose seed. Asclepias is a considerable genus, but the great bulk of the 

 species are concentrated in Mexico and Temperate North America. A few occur in South 

 America, and two at least in Africa. 



Marsdenia spp. 



Timor Laut ; Wetter. — The genus Marsdenia is widely diffused in the tropics of 

 both hemispheres, and imperfect specimens of two or three species have been collected in 

 the Eastern Moluccas. 



Hoya spp. 



Arrou ; Timor Laut ; Babar. — Fragments of several species belonging apparently to 

 this large tropical Asian and Australian genus are in the collections, but they have not 

 been matched with described species, and they are too imperfect for description. 



Dischidia n. sp. ? 



Timor Laut. — This remarkable genus consists of about twenty-four species, generally 

 dispersed in the tropical parts of Eastern India and the Archipelago ; one common Indian 

 species {Dischidia nummularia, R. Br.) ranging southward to North Australia. 



Ceropegia horsfieldiana, Miq. 



Ceropegia horsfieldiana, Miq., Fl. Ind. Bat, ii. p. 528. 

 Ceropegia curviflora, Hassk. in Bot. Zeit., 1847. 



Timor Laut. — Java. Bentham (Fl. Austr., iv. p. 348) refers the Ceropegia 

 cumingiana (Bot. Mag. t. 4349) to this species ; the true Ceropegia cumingiana 



