146 LXXXIIT. ASCLEPIADACE^. 



Corona-lobes with tbeir basal 

 part adnate to the staniinal- 

 column, shortly free above. 

 Corona-lobes with a sub- 

 ulate process on the inner 

 face of their free apical 



part 16. PEUG0i-AniA. 



Corona-lobes without a Bub- 

 vilate process on the inner 

 face of their free apical 



part 17. Marsdenia. 



Corona-lobesscale-like, bifid 

 at their apex ; style-apex 



with a distinct rim 18. Cosmostigma. 



Corolla-lobes valvate. 

 Corolla rotate. 



Leaves thin ; corona small, 



stellate 10. Heterostemma. 



Leaves thick and fleshy ; corona 



large, stellate 20. Hoya. 



Corolla urceolate or disciform ; corona 



cupular, fleshy 21. Oiantiius. 



Anthers incumbent on the style-apex without a membranous 

 appendage. 



Corona double, corolh'ne and staminal. 



Calyx turbinate, 5-lobed ; corolla rotate 22. Leptadenia. 



Corona double, staminal. 

 Leafy herbs. 



Corolla-lube long 23. Ceeopegia. 



Corolla rotate 24. Feerea. 



Leafless or almost leafless herbs with fleshy 4-anglcd 



stems and branches 25. Caralluma. 



1. HEMIDESMUS, E. Br. 



Twilling f-brubs. Leaves opposite. Tlowers small, greenish-puvple, 

 in axillary opposite crowded subsessile cvniPS. Calyx 5-partite, with 

 glands inside at 1he base; segments acuminate. Corolla rotate, deeply 

 5-fid, fleshy; tube very short; lobes thick, \alvate. Corona-scales 5, 

 short, thick, on the throat of the coi'olla and alternate with its lobes. 

 Stamens inserted at the base of the corolla-tube; filaments distinct or 

 subconnate at the base ; anthers small, cohering at the a])ex, terminated 

 by an inflexed membrane ; pollen-masses cohering in pairs in each cell, 

 granular, the caudicles of the pollen-carriers dilated or hooded. Style- 

 apex 5-gonous, flat on the top. Follicles divaricate, long, slender, 

 terete, smooth. Seeds comose. — Distetb. India; species 1. 



1. Hemidesmus indicus, B. Br. in Mem. Wem. Soc. v. ] (I'^H) 



p. 57. A perennial prostrate or twining shrub; rootstock woody; 

 stems numerous, slejider, terete, glabrous or pubescent, striate, thickened 

 at the nodes. Leaves very variable, from elliptic-ohlong to lin»\ar- 

 lanceolate, 2-4 in. long, but of very variable breadth (from -^-l^ in.), 

 apiculato, the narrow leaves a(ute, the broad ones often obtuse at the 

 ai)ex, glabrous, dark-green, often variegated with white above, pale and 

 sometimes silvery-white and pubescent bencatli, with reticidate veins ; 

 petioles --^ in. lung, l^'lowt-rs crowded in subsessile cymes in the 

 ()])posite axils; jiedicels short, clothed with numerous ovate acute 

 imbricating bracts. Calyx ,V, i"- 'fi'^'i glabrous outside; lobes ,'^ in. 



