Coscinium.l Menispermace^. 41 



head on the short, stout column of coherent filaments, anth. 

 square; fem. fl. : — carp, usually 5, on a short globose gyno- 

 phore, surrounded at base by a ring of 10 very small bifid 

 fleshy staminodes, smooth, stigmas reflexed ; ripe carp. 1-3 

 (usually 2), on thickened branches of enlarged gynophore, 

 nearly globose, \ in., smooth, black. 



Moist low country, up to 2000 ft. ; rather common. Fl. May, June ; 

 pale greenish-yellow, sweet-scented. 



Also in Eastern I3engal, S. India, and the Malay Archipelago. 



The seeds are very bitter and poisonous, and are known as ' Cocculus 

 indicus ' in pharmacy and in trade ; they do not appear to be used in 

 Ceylon. 



3. COSCINIUBI, Colebr. 



Woody climbers ; fl. in globose heads ; sep. 6 ; pet. 3 ; 

 male fl. : — stam. 6, in 2 rows, outer distinct, inner coherent 

 half-way up ; fem. fl. : — carp. 6, styles deflexed, staminodes 6 ; 

 ripe carp. 1-3, globose, endocarp bony, very hard, deeply 

 projected inwards on ventral face ; seed with endosperm 

 ruminate on ventral side, cotyledons laciniate. — Sp. 3 or 4 ; 

 2 in FL B. Ind. 



C. fenestratum, Colebr. in Trans. Linn. Soc. xiii. 65 fi82i). 

 Weni-wel, 6". 



Herm. Mas. 27. Fl. Zeyl. n. 436 {Hibiscoides). Menispermuni Jene- 

 stratum, Gaertn. Fruct. i. 219. Cissampelos co7ivolvulacea, var. /8., Moon 

 Cat. 70. Thw. Enum. 12. C. P. 1055. 



Fl. B. Ind. i. 99. Miers, Contrib. iii. t. 88. 



A woody climber, bark smooth, young shoots densely but 

 finely yellow - tomentose ; 1. large, 4-8 in., broadly ovate or 

 roundish, suddenly acute, truncate, rounded subcordate or 

 slightly peltate at base, entire, glabrous above, densely felted 

 with fine yellow tomentum beneath, strongly 5-7-nerved, 

 nerves and reticulated veinlets very prominent beneath, 

 petioles 3-4 in. ; fl. sessile in small dense rounded heads, 

 which are long-stalked and umbellately or racemosely arranged 

 in the axils of the leaves, ped. yellow-tomentose, bracts beneath 

 the fl. numerous, small, imbricated ; sep. rounded ; pet. ovate, 

 spreading ; fem. fl. : — carp, hairy, styles filiform, reflexed ; ripe 

 carp. 1-3, globose, f in., densely finely tomentose, brown. 



Moist low country ; common. Fl. Jan.-March ; yellow. 

 Also at Malacca and Singapore, and doubtfully in S. India. 

 Konig's specimens are labelled ' Cissampelos aurea ' by him. 

 The wood is of a bright yellow colour, and is valued as a bitter tonic 

 by the Sinhalese. It has been exported to England as a substitute tor 



