Menispermum. dioecia hexandria. 813 



7. M. iomentosum. Roxh. 



Perennial, twining. Leaves (hree-lobed, lonientose. Ra- 

 cemes axillary ; petals entire. 

 Be7if/. Pwilnm-golj/ncha. 



A native of hedges, and thickets, all over Bengal, but by 

 no means common. Flowering time the months of February 

 and March ; the seed ripens in May and June. 



St€7ns tw ining up and over trees to a great extent. Bark 

 of the older parts ash.coloured, with small, scabrous specks, 

 that of the young shoots downy. Like some other species of 

 this genus, viz. M. cordifolium, Wllld.and vernicosnm, Fu- 

 nis felleus, Rump. Amb. v. t. 44./. I. tender filaments issue 

 from various parts, which quickly descend into the ground, 

 often from the height of some fathoms. This happens parti- 

 cularly, when the lower part of the original plant has been 

 destroyed, the succulent fragments remaining amongst the 

 branches of the trees they run on, send out those fibres 

 abundantly, some one, or more of which soon replaces the 

 former stem and root. A most wonderful economy for the 

 preservation of these plants. Leaves alternate, petioled, of a 

 roundish cordate shape, having the anterior margin generally 

 three-lobed, soft and tomentose on both sides, particularly un- 

 derneath, from three to five or six inches long, and nearly as 

 broad. Petioles round, tomentose, nearly as long as the 

 leaves. Style scarcely any. Sl'ifjmas with enlarged, rag- 

 ged surfaces and margins. Berries, or drupes, nearly round, 

 smooth, of the size of a marrowfat pea, from one to three 

 too-ether, when ripe of a deep orange colour. Seed solitary, 

 rough, reniform, with a pit on the inside, and a furrowed belt 

 round the exterior or convex side. Male. Racemes ge- 

 nerally simple, one, two, or more together from the buds at 

 the axills of the fallen leaves, ^rac^e^ minute, caducous, 

 many-flowered. Calyx, the exterior three leaflets lanceo- 

 late, very small; the interior three nearly round, first expand- 

 ino-, then recurved. Petals oval, entire, with the posterior 

 margins incurved over the base of the filaments. Filaments 



