Strychnos?^ Loganiace(^. 173 



2. S. colubrina,* Z. Sp. PL 189 (1753), van zeylanica, Clarke in 

 Fl. B. Ind. iv. Zt. 



S. 79unor, Bl. Rumph. i. Jo. S. viinor^ var. a, nitida, Benth. in Journ. 

 Linn. Soc. i. loi. Moon Cat. 16. Thw. Enum. 201. C. P. 2516. 

 Fl. B. Ind. iv. 87. Rheede, Hort. Malab. vii. t. 5. 



A large woody climber, bark smooth, with numerous len- 

 ticels, grey, young shoots puberulous, tendrils usually solitary, 

 strongly circinate ; 1. 2-3I in., oval or rhomboid-oval, much 

 tapering to both ends, acute, quite glabrous, 5-nerved, coria- 

 ceous, paler beneath, petiole short; fl. small, numerous, cymes 

 nearly sessile, short, puberulous ; cal.-segm. rounded, pubes- 

 cent, ciliate; cor.-lobes 5, as long as tube, oblong, subacute; 

 ov. glabrous, not tapering into style; berry f-i in., crustaceous; 

 seeds 2-4, ovoid, f in., very slightly compressed, glabrous, 

 brown. 



Dry and intermediate regions, rather common. Haragama; Gala- 

 gama; Doluwa Kande; Dambulla; Anuradhapura ; Nilgala; Maturata. 

 Fl. Feb.-April ; white. 



Also in S. India. 



The strong circinately curved tendrils are usually very well marked in 

 this species, but are not shown in Rheede's figure. The Ceylon variety 

 differs from the type in having the leaves narrower and more rhomboid 

 and 5- (instead of 3-) nerved. Blume's authority for Ceylon is Van Royen, 

 I have no evidence of the wood of this being collected for use in Ceylon 

 as a snake-medicine at the present time. Much confusion has been caused 

 by authors quoting for this species Rheede, Hort. Mai. viii. t. 24, which 

 has a very much larger fruit, and does not seem to be known to modern 

 botanists { = S. Rheedei, Clarke), but may probably be S. cinnamomifolia, 

 Thw. (q. v.). 



3. S. Beddomei, Clarke, Fl. B. Ind. iv. 88 (18S3). 



S. micrantha, Thw. Enum. 425 (in part) and 201 {S. laurind). C. P. 

 3540. 



Fl. B. Ind. iv. 88. 



Scandent (or an erect tree), bark smooth, with lenticels, 

 tendrils few, small, falcate, in terminal pairs; 1. large, 3-5 in., 

 oval or lanceolate, rounded or narrowed at base, much acu- 

 minate, apiculate, 3-nerved, coriaceous, shining above, pale 

 beneath, transverse venation prominent ; cymes rather lax, 

 nearly sessile, axillary, pubescent ; cal. very small, segm. short, 

 rounded, puberulous; cor. \ in. diam., lobes 5, as long as tube, 

 acute; ov. glabrous or nearly so, tapering into style; berry 

 over f in. diam. 



Var. /3, coriacea, Clarke, I. c. S. coriacea, Thw. Enum. 425. C. P. 

 3367- 



* The wood is the true Lignmn colubfiniim of the old pharmacists, 

 and is the second kind from Ceylon described by Garcia de Orta (see 

 under Rauvolfia serpefttina). 



