ILLUSTRATIONS OF INDLAN BOTANY 



39 



. P«0PERT1RS ANT) U.SK.S. On this Subject almost nofhing is known, the fruit of some sne- 

 cies of Pass^fora are edible and the succulent juicy pulp which surround the seed is coolinff 

 and pleasant to the taste. The root of one species, P. quadra f?(r a larh^ is said to he power- 

 fully narcotic, a dose of the infusion, administered to a do^, having killed him in 40 minutes 

 ufter Its admmistration and almost immediately knocked him down, as if struck with apoplexy 

 Little however seems known of it beyond that experiment, a'^ it does not seem to have been 

 employed as a remedial agent in the cure of disease. I have no where heard that our species of 

 Jfladtccay have been applied to any useful purpose. 



. There being but two genera, so far as yet known, 

 natives ot the 1 emnsula, and these contammg between them only three species, all of which I 

 have fiorured m the Fcones, it seems unnecessary to devote space to them here. The one repre- 

 sented here, for the figure of which I am indebted to the elegant pencil of Mrs, Walker 

 found in Ceylon, where it was supposed a native and a new species, I have, as already stated 

 seen reason to fear is not a native but an introduced plant, as it accords in almost every parti- 

 cular wi'h the characters of l)oth P, minhna and suherosa especially the latter, a figure of which 

 in Smith's Exotic Botany I have seen, except in the smaller size of its fruit. The followin^^ 

 description is taken from a plant growing in the Horticultural Society's Garden at Bangalore "" 



Remarks on Gknkr\ and Species. 



was 



Pafisiflora Wa^kerii (11. W, P. minima? Jacq. P. su- 

 berosM? Liu.) A small climblin^ plant, leaves ovate 3 

 or slightly 5-nerved, the exterior pair much smaller, en- 

 tire or somewhat tlire^-Iobed, the midJle lobe the larg- 

 est, succulent, glabrous, without gland. s ; p tiols shorter 

 than the leaves, with two prominent glands near the 

 apex i tendrils simple : peduncles twin, axillary, siniple, 

 one-flowered, jointed about the middle and furnished 

 with two minute caducous subulate bnicteasat the j int ; 

 no involucrum : calyx o-cleft, inner series wanting, coro- 

 al appendages in four series, first, tht; inner one a brown 

 rin:^—2-a plaited !obed membrane t!ie margin ot' the lobes 

 ciliated, 3 a circle of erect eapitulate rilaments— and 

 lastly — the petaloid series consisiing of a ring of spathu- 



late filaments reflexed and redish at the apex purple to- 

 wards the base. Fruit a small purple berry with several 

 rougli seed enveloped in sweet pulp. 

 ^ I cannot feel certain that the plant described is iden- 

 tical with the one figured, but trust that the minuteness 

 of the above description aided by the figure will enable 

 any Ceylon Botani-t, who may meet with the plant, to 

 determine that point. For figures of the continental 

 species of thi^ order, see Icones— No. 311, 179, 201. 



The analysis figures 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 are taken from P. 

 lanrifoWi^ and were made by Rungiah. The figure of 

 the plant and section of the fruit JSo. 7, I owe to the 

 kindness of Mrs. Walker. 



EXPLANATION OF PLATE 108. 



Passiflora Walheri (R. W. P, suberosa ? Jacq.) 



1. A flowering branch, Statural .size, 



2. Stamens, podocarp and ovary. 



3. Anthers. 



4. Transverse section of the tube of the calyx, show- 

 ing the Iree curtuiu-like exireu;ity of the torus (?j em- 



bracing the podocarp and cutting off all communicatioQ 

 between the upper and lower portions of the tube. 



5. Ovary cut vertically. 



6. Cut transversely, one-celled, with three parietal 

 placentas. 



7. Transverse section of the mature fruit. 



SPCUl 



LXXI.-PORTULACACE.^. 

 LXXII.-PARONYCHIACE^.-LXXIII.~FICOIDE^. 



fn our Prodromus these orders are viewed as quite distinct and not even ranged in a con- 

 ive series. 'In this course we followed DeCandoUe, and, accordinjf to my present ideas on 

 the suhject allowed ourselves to be misled by .that high authority on all matters relatin^^ to af- 

 finities of Plants. ^ 



1 hese three orders in common wilh Caryophylleae, falready treated of) Chmonodiaceae 

 Phytolacceae. Pohjgonene, and five or six others are connected by one common link namely by 

 having the Embryo appUrd to the side of, or, more commonly, curved roiwd a me'ily albumen. 

 The orders associa(ed by this seminal structure, thout^h often apparenily, widely sepdrated 

 by characters taken from the Bower, are ypt. b]\ so intimately blended in their several relaticm- 

 ships, that no t\^o Botanists se^m a^^reed either as to the genera referable to each or as to the 



be 



allies. Guided 



this clue to 



