812 DioECiA HEXANDRiA. Menispermum. 



ed lliem thirty feet long-, and in no part thicker than a pack- 

 thread. Leaves alternate, petioled, broad-cordate, five-nerv- 

 ed, entire, curved, smooth, about four inches each way. Peti- 

 oles round, smooth, swelled at the base. Racemes axillary, 

 or terminal, or from the tuberosities of former leaves, with 

 frequently a few flowers in separate axills. Flowers numer- 

 ous, small, yellow. Male. CaZ/yaj six-leaved ; leaflets oval. 

 Petals six, wedge-formed, half the length of the calyx ; mar- 

 gins inflected and embracing the filaments. Filaments six, 

 clubbed, spreading, rather longer than the petals. Anthers 

 twin, immersed in the fleshy extremities of the filaments. Fe- 

 male. CaZ?/:» and coro/ as in the male. Filaments six, fleshy ^ 

 sterile. Germs three, superior, resting on a tumid receptacle. 

 Style single, very short. Stigmas torn. Berries one, two, 

 or three, generally one or two, rarely all the three come to 

 maturity,of thesize of asmall cherry, smooth, red, succulent, 

 with very glutinous pulp, each resting on a tumid receptacle. 

 Seed single, kidney-formed, on the inside there is a deep pit, 

 which receives its receptacle. 



The fresh root is employed by the natives, in substance, 

 mixed up with sour rice-gruel, and sweetened with sugar, for 

 the cure of heat of urine in gonorrhoea. Birds eat the ripe 

 berries. The seeds are not used in these parts for any 

 purpose that I can discover. To intoxicate fish, and render 

 them easily caught, the natives employ the fruit of Gardenia 

 dumetorunif the bark of Walsura, and Phyllantlms viro- 

 sus, 



6, M. villosum. R. 



Twining, every part soft with down. Leaves broad-cor- 

 date, five-nerved, entire. Panicles axillary, sub-globular. 



A large twining perennial ; a native of Chittagong, in flow- 

 er and fruit at different times of the year. The six anthers 

 are of two large round lobes each, with round pores at the 

 top. Nectaria I scales or rather /jc^a/s sub-cuneiform, fleshy, 

 and emarginate. 



