ORD. VIII. SARMENTACE. 
COCCULUS PALMATUS. PALMATED COCCULUS, OR 
: CALUMBA PLANT. 
SYNONYMA. Menispermum palmatum. Willd. Sp. Pl. iv. p. 825. Lam. 
Dict. iv. p.99. Spreng. Syst. Veg. v. ii. p. 154. Berry, in Asiat. Res. v. x. 
p. 385. 2.5. Coeculus palmatus. Curt. Bot. Mag. v.iv. N.S. t. 2970-71 
Decand. Syst. Veg. v.i. ‘pp. 522. Ejusd. Prodr. v. i. p. 98. 
Class XX. Dioecia. Ord. VI. Hexandria. 
Nat. Ord. Sarmentacee, Linn. Menispermee, Juss. 
Gen. Char. Sepals and petals arranged in a double series, very rarely in a 
triple series. Stamens six, free, opposite to the petals. Carpels from three 
to six. Fruit drupaceous, reniform, rather compressed, oue-seeded Uoty 
ledons distiutt. 
| Spec. Char. Leaves cordate, five to seven-lobed. odes entire, acuminate 
somewhat hairy on both sides. Stem and germen clothed with glandular 
hairs. 
THIS species of Coceulus is a native of the eastern part of southern Africa ; 
it has been ascertained to grow naturally, and in great abundance, from 
fifteen to twenty miles inland, in the thick forests about Oibo and Mosam- 
_bique, on the Zanguebar coast. Formerly it was erroneously supposed, that 
the plant which produced the calwmba-root of commerce, was a native of the 
island of Ceylon, and that its name was derived from Columbo, the principal 
town of that island. We are indebted to M. J. F. Fortin, a French gentle- 
