LXXXIII. ASCLEPIADACE.S. 147 



long, ovate, acute, with membranous ciliolate margins. Corolla 1—^ in. 

 long, greenish outside, purple inside ; tube very short ; loltes valvate, 

 fleshy, ^ in. long, ovate-oblong, acuminate. Follicles 4-6 by i in., 

 cylindric, tapering to a point at the apex, straight or sometimes slightly 

 curved, sti'iate, glabrous. Seeds i-l in. long, ovale-oblong, flattened, 

 black ; coma silvery-white, 1 in. long. Fl. B. I. v. 4, p. 5 ; Grab. Cat. 

 p. 122; Dalz. & Gibs. p. 147; Wight, Icon. t. 594; Trim. Fl. Ceyl. 

 v. 3, p. 144; Talb. Trees, Bomb. ed. 2, p. 232; Woodr. in Journ. 

 Bomb. Nat. v. 12 (ISUS) p. 166 ; Watt, Diet. Econ. Prnd. v. 4, p. 219.— 

 EloM'ers throughout the greater part of the year. Veen. Anantvel ; 

 Uparsul. 



A tolerably common plant throughout- the Presidenoy, often found in hedges. 

 KoNKAN : Stocks \, Law \; Malabar hill (Bombay) and Wargaon, Graham. Deccan : 

 Poona, Kan.itkar\ ; bills 10 miles W. of Poooa, Bhiva ! S. M. Countuy : Belgaum, 

 Bitchie, 427 ! ; Castlerock, Bhiva ! 



The root has been employed as a substitute for sarsaparilla and in 1864 was made 

 officinal in tbe British Pharmacopa?ia. See Watt, Diet. Econ. Prod. 1. c. — Distkib. 

 India (Northern Provinces, Western Peninsula); Ceylon. 



2. CRYPTOLEPIS, E. Br. 



Glabrous shi-ubs usually twining. Leaves opposite. Flowers small, 

 in axillary lateral or terminal lax usually few-flowered pedunculate 

 cymes. Calyx 5-partite. Corolla-tube short, cylindric or campanulate; 

 lobes 5, overlapping to the right in bud ; corona of 5 filiform or fleshy 

 lobes or processes arising from about the middle of the corolla-tube. 

 (Stamens inserted towards the base of the corolla-tube ; tihiments free ; 

 anthers more or less triangular, with the connective produced into a 

 fleshy apicukis, united at their base to the dihited part of the style, more 

 or less connivent into a cone ; pollen-masses granular, cohering in pairs 

 in each cell ; pollen-carriers more or less spathulate. 8tyle-apex shortly 

 conical, not exserted beyond the anthers. Follicles divaricate, terete, 

 smooth. Seeds comose. — Disthib. Africa and Tropical Asia; species 

 about 20. 



1. Cryptolepis Buchanani, Roem. if- Schult. Si/st. v. 4 (1819) 

 p. 409. A large twining shrub ; branches terete, pale, glabrous. Leaves 

 3-5 by l^-^g in., elliptic-oblong or sometimes oblong-lanceolate, rounded, 

 refuse, or sometimes acute, apiculate, green above, whitish beneath, 

 glabrous, base usually acute; main nerves numerous, slender, nearly at 

 right angles to the midrib, uniting in an intramarginal nerve; petioles 

 |-g in. long. Flowers greenish-yellow, in short paniculate cymes ; 

 pedicels glabrous ; bracts ovate, acute, with scarious margins. Calyx 

 glabrous ; segments J^ in. long, ovate, subacute. Corolla-tube jL in, 

 long; lobes | in. long, linear or linear-lanceolate, subacute; corona- 

 scales clavate. Follicles 2-4 in. long, straight, rigid, divaricate, gradually 

 tapering to a blunt point from about the middle, where they are g-l in. 

 in diam. Seeds j-^ in. long, ovate-oblong, black ; coma rather more 

 than 1 in. long. Fl. B. I. v. 4, p. 5 ; Dalz. & Gibs. p. 148; Wight, 

 Icon. t. 494; Trim. Fl. Cevl. v. 3, p. 145; Talb. Trees, Bomb. ed. 2, 

 p. 232 : Woodr. in Journ. Bomb. Nat. v. 12 (1898) p. 166 ; Watt, Diet. 

 Econ. Prod. v. 2, p. 642. — Flowers : June-Aug. Vern. Karunta ; 

 Setaldvali. 



l2 



