Convolvulacea. ] THE HIMALAYAN MOUNTAINS. 307 
The succulent, clammy, subastringent»fruit: of C. Myra, has been long esteemed:as a 
medicine, under the name*Sebesten, and is also eaten by Asiatics. C./atifola is supposed 
by Dr. Roxburgh and Mr: Colebrooke (FJ. Indica. pz 590) to produce the larger, while 
C. Myxa affords the smaller’ sepistans or sebestans. “From these the order was named 
Sebestinee’ by Ventenat. The bark of C. Myra is accounted a mild tonic; that of 
C. angustifolia, Roxb., (reticulata, Roth.), goondnee; is much used for making astringent 
gargles; the fruit also is employed as an astringent. 
128. CONVOLVULACE®. 
The Convolvulacee@, generally known by their twining habit’ and plaited corols, are 
allied to Cordiacee by their shrivelled cotyledons, and are, like them, chiefly found in 
tropical countries, with a few species extending north, and ascending the mountains in 
warm latitudes. Thus we have them in abundance in the plains of India, with a few 
only in the Himalayas. The Indian species have been carefully examined by M. Choisy, 
in a memoir published in the Mem. de la Soc. d’Hist. Nat. de Geneve, where he has 
given a tabular view of the genera belonging to this family.” Of these, several are 
peculiar to the southern parts of India and the Malayan Peninsula, as Blinkworthia, 
Moorcroftia, Shuteria, Skinneria, Neuropeltis, and Lepistemon ; of the last, one species 
extends'to Java. Argyrcia is common to India and China, ‘Calystegia to India and New 
Holland. Of the other genera found in India, Porana occurs in Western Africa ; 
Calystegia, Breweria, and Dichondra, in’ New Holland ; of the two last , species are 
also found in America. Quamoclit and Aniseia are chiefly found in America ; but species 
of both are indigenous in India and China, while Calonictyon has‘several species in India, 
but only one in the West-Indies. Rivea, Ipomea, Convolvulus, Evolvulus, and Batatas, 
are found in the tropical parts of Asia, Africa, and America; and, with the exception 
of the first, also in New Holland. Cvessa extends from India to the south of Europe, 
and species of Convolvulus and Calystegia to several northern parts. Cuscuta has a very 
wide distribution in the Old World, both in hot and cold countries. 
Many of the same species spread. from the southern to the most northern parts of 
India along the foot of the mountains, as we have seen to be the case in other families, 
as Rivea ornata, Argyreia speciosa, Porana racemosa, Quamoclit vulgaris, &e., all of which 
are found wild in the Deyra Doon. Some are common to’ ‘India, China; and New 
Holland, as Zpomea’ pescapra, reptans, and dasysperma ; others, found chiefly in arid 
parts of the country, to India and Western Africa, as I. coptica, filicaulis, and reptans, 
Batatas paniculatus and pentaphyllus, all of which, with the exception of the first, 
spread to America. Batatas edulis is cultivated in all the tropical parts of the world. 
Other instances of the same natiire may be seen in M. Choisy’s Memoir. A few 
species only of those found in the plains ascend the mountains, as Rivea ornata, to 
moderate’ élevations, Pharbitis Nil, common in various parts of the world, to as high as 
5,000 feet; Ipom@a atropurpurea and cuspidata occur in Nepal; Aniseia burleriodes 
in Kemaon, and on the banks of the Tonse. Cuscuta grandiflora is common in the Hima- 
oh: layas, 
