152 LXXXIII. ASCLEPIADACE.B. 



2. Calotropis -procera, R. Br. hiAit.Hort.Kew. ed. 2, v. 2 (1811) 

 p. 78. An erect shrub usually 6-8 ft. high (sometimes growing much 

 higher in arid places) ; young parts clotlied with white cottony tomentum ; 

 bark soft, corky, spongy. Leaves subsessile, usually 2:|-6 by 1|-3| 

 (exceptionally 9 by in.), broadly ovate, ovate-oblong, elliptic or 

 obovate, with a short abrupt acumination, cottony-pubescent when 

 young, at length glabrous. Flowers in umbellate cymes which are at 

 first tomentose, but becoming nearly glabrous : peduncles 1-3 in. long, 

 lateral ; pedicels ^ iw- long ; buds globose. Calyx divided to the base, 

 glabrous ; sepals 4- by y"^ in., ovate, acute. Corolla glabrous, about 1 in. 

 across, divided about | of the way down ; lobes usually erect, ovate, 

 acute, I in. long ; lobes of the corona l by -^— 1- in., compressed, equalling 

 or exceeding the staminal-column, the back nearly straight or sometimes 

 slightly curved away from the column above the upcurved subacute 

 spur*, usually glabrous but sometimes slightly scabrous-pubescent along 

 the outer margin, the apex obliquely truncate, bifid and without auricles. 

 Follicles 3-4 by 2-3 in., subglobose, ellipsoid or ovoid. Seeds \ by -^in., 

 broadly ovate, acute, flattened, narrowly margined, minutely tomentose, 

 light-brown : coma 11 in. long. Fl. B. I. v. 4, p. 18 ; Dalz. & Gibs, 

 p. 149; AVight, Icon. t. 1278; Talb. Trees, Bomb. ed. 2, p. 234; 

 Woodr. in Journ. Bomb. Nat. v. 12 (1898) p. 16G ; Watt, Diet. Econ. 

 Prod. V. 2, p. 49. — Flowers : Dec. Veen. A I- ; Bui. 



Pretty common in dry parts of the Presidency, abundant in Sind. Deccan : Poona, 

 Cookel, Woodrow; 3e]uY\, I\anade\ Sind: CooJcel, Sfoc/rs, 4231 — Distrib. More or 

 less in warm dry places throughout India ; Ava, Persia, Tropical Africa. 



Very similar to the last species, from which it differs in the smaller flowers, but 

 nioi-e especially in the corona. Mr. Talbot (Trees, Eomb. 1. c.) a])tly likens the sliape 

 of the corona-lobes of C. gignntca to that of the mythological dolphin, that of the 

 corona of C procera to the prow of a steamer. 



This plant is used for the same purposes as the former, and it has been proposed to 

 grow it in Sind, whei'c it flourishes, as a fibre plant, but the quantity of fibre obtained 

 from a stem is so small and the difliculty of separation hitherto has been so great, 

 that this has not been atfemjited. Wait's Dictionary of Economic Products contains 

 much valuable information on the subject. 



8. OXYSTELMA, E. Br. 



Twining glabrous shrubs or undershrubs. Leaves opposite. Flowers 

 large and handsome, in lax racemose or subumbellate cymes or solitary ; 

 pedicels filiform. Calyx smnll, 5-jartite, glandular inside. Corolla with 

 a very short tube with a densely pubescent ring at its mouth (sometimes 

 described as a corolline corona) within, and a broad saucer-shaped limb 

 5-lobed ^-\\ay down ; lobes deltoid, acute, valvate at the base, the tips 

 overlapping to the right in bud; corona of 5 erect ovate or lanceolate 

 acute lobes with 2 keels inside arising from the stamiiial-column. 

 Stamens inserted at the base of the corolla-tube ; lilaments sliort, con- 

 nate ; anthers erect, terminated by a short inflexed membranous ap- 

 pendage ; pollen-masses pendulous, \^•axy, elongate-chivate, compressed, 

 attached in pairs by their attenuatc'd ends to the short ovoid pollen- 

 carriers. Style-api-x truncate or con\ ex, not exserted beyond the anthers. 

 Follicles often solitary, oblong and obtuse or lanceolate and acute. Seeds 

 comose. — Distrib. Tropical Asia and Africa ; species 3 or 4. 



1. Oxystelma esculentum, B.Br, in Man. Wern. Soc. v. 1 (1811) 

 p. 40. A perennial twining herb with milky juice; roots fibrous from 



