Asclepias. pentanuria digynia. 47 



Flos Siamicus. Rumph. Amh. 7. t. 26 f. 1- 



Mai. Tonki, or Tonkin. 



Cj'uancbium odoratissimum. Lour. Cochin. Ch. 164. 



Beng. K?nija-lMta. 



The Telingas have no name for it. 



Eng. XA^est coast creeper. 



This plant is said to have been originally introduce! 

 into our gardens from Sumatra, where it continues to be 

 carefully cultivated ; hence its English name, the West 

 side of that Island on which we have our settlements, be- 

 ing generally called in India, amongst the English, the 

 West coast. 



For my part I cannot well consider this plant as a spe- 

 cies o( Pergularia ; it seems to uuite the character of this 

 genus with that of Asclepias. The nectary w^hich I be- 

 lieve is the most essential part, is that of the latter ; and 

 the corol that of the former. At all events I consider it 

 as a perfectly distinct species from P. tonientosa ; on ac- 

 count therefore of the exquisite fragrance of its flowers, I 

 call it odoratissima. It is in flower from the beginning of 

 the hot, till near the end of the wet season. The Root con- 

 sists of many, horizontal, crooted, ramifications, covered 

 with thick spongy bark. 



Stems twining, woody. Bark deeply cracked, and cor- 

 ky on the old parts ; smooth, ash-coloured on the young- 

 er, jointed ; where the joints rest on the ground they 

 strike root; young, tender shoots slightly downy. Leaves 

 opposite, petioled, cordate, waved, sharp-pointed, entire ; 

 when young a little downy, about four inches long, and 

 three broad. Petioles round, about an inch long. Umbels 

 axillary, solitary, alternate, shorter than the leaves, ma- 

 ny-flowered. 5r«cfes lanceolate, F?o?i;ers middle-sized, 

 yellow, or orange coloured, exeedingly fragrant. Cahjx 

 five cleft ; divisions waved, permanent. Corol; tube gib- 

 bous, longer than the calyx ; inside covered with soft 

 down. Border spreading ; divisions obliquely-ovate, a- 



