Smiiax. dioecia hexandria. 7.% 



Umbels axillary, compound; iimbel/ets ^{ohiilar. Pedun- 

 cles and pedicels columnar, smooth, coloured. Bractes two 

 at the base of each peduncle, with smaller, rellexed, partial 

 bracteoli to the umbellets. Female. C«///jc the three ex- 

 terior leaflets larger, all revolute ; nectar]} three subulate 

 bodies within the calyx. 6?er»j oblong. *S7^/e« short. Stig- 

 mas truncate. Berries above, red, smooth, succulent, two or 

 tliree-seeded. 



8, S. prolij'era. R, 



Stem and blanches cylindric, prickly. Leaves unarmed, 

 oblong, triple-nerved, with a slender marginal pair. Umbels 

 proliferous, super-decompound ; umbellets globular, long- 

 ped uncled. 



A native of hedges and thickets in the vicinity of Calcutta 

 Avhere it blossoms in February and March. 



Root strong, slender, hard, fibres springing from a small 

 tuberous, hard, ligneous crown or base. Stems and branches 

 peremiial, scandent, of some few fathoms in length, round, 

 armed with numerous, rather recurved, short, thick, sharp 

 prickles. Zeauesfromlanceolar to oblong, triple-nerved, be- 

 sides a very slender sub-marginal pair, entire, smooth on both 

 sides, from three to four inches long-, and from one to two broad. 

 Petioles variously bent and ribbed, at the base a permanent, 

 stipulaceous, cirriferous enlargement. Male. Umbels axil- 

 lary, proliferous, rather shorter than the leaves. Umbellets 

 long-pedicelled, globular. Flowers numerous, middle sized, 

 green. CahjX six-leaved, all linear and revolute, but the three 

 exterior ones much broader. Coral none. Filaments six, as 

 long as the calyx. Anthers linear-oblong, recurved. Fe- 

 male. Umbels axillary, three or four times proliferous; 

 umbellets globular, long-peduncled. Floivers numerous, 

 smalljof a greenish yellow, long-pedicelled. Calyx as in the 

 male. Filaments or nectaries six, filiform, shorter than the 

 petals. Germ superior, globular, three^celled, with one ovu- 

 lum in each, attached to the top of the axis. Styles three, re- 



4V2 



