80G DiOECiA iiEXANDRiA. JlenlsperiHum, 



of two years' growth, which grew in this garden, was rather 

 more than a foot in diameter. Ste7ii annual, twining- to a 

 very great extent, round, and armed with numerous acute 

 pricklcts, otherwise smooth. Leaves long-petioled, ternate. 

 Leaflets, the middle one cuneate, obovate, the lateral sub- 

 scmicordate, all are acute, entire, both sides villous while 

 young, from three to five-nerved, various in size, the largest 

 often a foot long, and six inches broad. Petioles slightly 

 armed with small prickles, and like the leaves, villous while 

 young. Male. Inflorescence; spikes axillary, compound, 

 drooping, sometimes leaf-bearing ; the general length from 

 six to eighteen inches. Calyx. The exterior three leaflets 

 round and smaller than the inner three, which are ovate. 

 Female flowers on a different plant. Spikes axillary, 

 solitary, pendulous. Floicers remote. Calyx as in the 

 male. Germ beneath, very large, three-sided, villous. Styles 

 scarcely any. Stigmas three. 



17. D. penlaphylla. Willd. iv. 78D. 



Tubers oblong. Stems herbaceous, twining, prickly. 

 Leaves digitate, downy. Male floicers panicled, the J'e- 

 male ones spiked. 



Beng. Kanta-aloo. 



Nuren-kelengu. Rheed. Mai. vii. t. 34. and 35. 



This species I have only found in its wild state; though 

 the root is large, white, and reckoned very wholesome and 

 palatable, and eaten by the natives. Flowering time the 

 rainy season. 



MENISPERMUM. Schreb. gen. N. 1544. 

 Male. CaZ/yo; six-leaved. Coro/ six-petalled. Female. 

 Calyx and corol as in the male. Germs three, or six, sing- 

 ly one-celled, one-seeded ; attachment inferior. Berries 

 three, or six, one-seeded. Embryo inverse and furnished with 

 a perisperm. 



