Cocculus.] Menispermacecs. 43 



twisted at apex, rounded or tapering at base, glabrous, thick, 

 somewhat 3-nerved at base, finely reticulate, petiole |- in., 

 slender ; fl. few, in small, axillary, racemose clusters much 

 shorter than the leaves, bracts small, subulate ; sep. surrounded 

 at base by several small rounded bracts, inner row much 

 larger, rotund, concave ; pet. h length of inner sep., truncate ; 

 male fl. : — stam. as long as pet. ; ripe carp. 1-3, usually 2, f in., 

 ovoid-pyriform, sessile, smooth, endocarp hard, with a large 

 round intrusion, wrinkled ; seed curved into a circle round the 

 central cavity. 



Low country and lower zone of hill country to 4000 ft. ; rather common. 

 Deltota ; Pussellawa ; Dimbula ; Passara ; Bintenne. Fl. July-Sept.; 

 yellow. Fruit dull reddish-purple. 



From East Bengal through the Malay Peninsula and Islands. 



This is considered a separate genus, Hypserpa, by Miers, who gives 

 2 other species for Ceylon, H. pauciflora and H. tmiflora, but they cannot 

 be distinguished even as varieties. The number of sep., pet., and stam. 

 seems to vary. I do not find the structure of the fruit to be as described 

 in Fl. B. Ind. 



A plant from Lunugala, Uva (with male fl.), may be distinct ; the 

 leaves are lanceolate-oblong, smaller, and show no tendency to be tripli- 

 nerved at the base. 



6. COCCUI.US, DC. 



Woody climbers ; fl. in panicles ; sep. 6, biseriate, inner 

 larger ; pet. 6 ; male fl. : — stam. 6, anth.-cells bursting trans- 

 versely ; fem. fl. : — carp. 3, staminodes 6 ; fruit-carp, com- 

 pressed, endocarp hard, keeled on back, transversely ridged, 

 hollowed at sides or perforated ; seed doubled into a hook, 

 endosperm scanty, not ruminate, cotyledons linear, flat. — Sp. 

 about 10; 5 in FL B. Ind. 



Leaves 2-3^ in. long, panicle 1^-2 ft., carp. § in. . i. C. MACROCARPUS. 

 Leaves i^^-i in., panicle i in., carp. \ in., endocarp 



perforated 2. C. VILLOSUS. 



I. C. macrocarpus, W. and A. Prod. 13 (1834). 



Diploclisia i?iclyta, Miers, I.e. 282. Thw. Enum. 13. C. P. 1052. 



Fl. B. Ind. loi. Wight, 111. i. t. 7. Miers, Contrib. iii. t. 127. 



A large woody climber, bark smooth, young shoots striate, 

 glabrous ; 1. 2-3J in., rotundate, rather broader than long, 

 obtuse, apiculate, undulate, glabrous, 5-nerved, glaucous 

 beneath, petioles 1-2 in., slender, flexuose, divaricate; fl. very 

 numerous, in very large, much-branched, glabrous, pendulous 

 panicles 1^-2 ft. long from the old wood ; inner sep. oval, 

 rather larger than outer ones ; pet. smaller, with lateral lobes ; 

 male fl. : — anth. subglobose ; fem. fl. : — carp, smooth, style 



