DcEmia.'] Asclepiadece. 1 49 



Has a slightly fetid odour when bruised. The whole plant is very full 

 of milky juice, which is given as a remedy for leprosy. The bark of the 

 root (which is an official drug in the Indian Pharmacop(jeia) is employed 

 as an alterative tonic. A very good fine fibre is obtained from the stem 

 and used for fishing lines. The long hairs on the seed form a beautiful 

 silk-cotton, used for stuffing. Charcoal for gunpowder is made from the 

 stems at Jaffna. 



Asdepias curassavica^ L., a native of the W. Indies, is not uncommon 

 as a roadside weed, and is quite naturalised. This is often called ' Wild 

 Ipecacuanha' by the English, though not used here, as in its native 

 country, as a substitute for that medicine. 



7. FENTATROPZS, Br. 



Twining perennial, 1. broad; fl. rather small, cymes sub- 

 umbellate ; cal. very small, segm. 5, very deep ; cor. rotate, 

 lobes 5, very deep, narrow, contorted ; column large, pro- 

 minent, fil. short, connate, pollen-masses i in each cell, not 

 compressed, pendulous, coronal processes vertically adnate 

 to column, compressed, spurred at base; stigma flat on top, 

 slightly 5-angled ; follicles small, pointed, glabrous ; seeds 

 with long coma. — Sp. 8 ; 2 in FL B. Ind. 



P. microphylla, W. &^ A. Co7itrib. 52 (1834). 

 Cynanchuvi acu7ninatuiii, Thunb. Obs. in Cynanch. 5. Thw. Enum. 

 196. C. P. 1853. 



FL B. Ind. iv. 20. Wight, Ic. t. 352. 



A perennial herb, often slightly woody at base, stems 

 twining, very slender, thickened at nodes, glabrous ; 1. small, 

 |-i in., broadly oblong or ovate-oval or subrotundate, obtuse 

 but mucronate at apex, glabrous, petiole \-\ in., slender; fl. 

 on filiform ped. ^ in. long, cymes very short, bracts small, im- 

 bricate ; cal.-segm. linear-lanceolate, acute ; cor.-lobes narrowly 

 triangular, acute ; follicles about i|in., tapering to long point ; 

 valves much everted after dehiscence. 



Dry and intermediate region ; rather rare. Jaffna ; Puttalam ; Kuru- 

 negala. Fl. August. 



Also in India and Burma. 



Much like Tylophora tenuis in general appearance. 



8. DHIBIIA, Br. 



Twining perennial, 1. cordate, fl. moderate-sized, cymes 

 corymbose, long-stalked ; cal. cleft to base into 5 sep. ; cor.- 

 tube short, broadly funnel-shaped, lobes 5, ovate, contorted; 

 column large, prominent, fil. long, connate, corona shortly 



