154 



LXXXIII, ASCLEPIADACE.i;. 



9. PENTATROPIS, E. Br. 



Slender twining herbs or underslirubs. Leaves opposite, petiolate. 

 riowers small, in lateral umbellate cymes. Calyx 5-partite. Corolla 

 divided nearly to the base; lobes 5, elongate, suberect, overlapping to 

 the right, twisted to the left ; corona simple, of 5 laterally compressed 

 ]()bes_ adnate for ^ to | of their length to the backs of the anthers. 

 .Staminal-column arising from the base of the corolla; filaments connate; 

 anthers with membranous appendages inflexed over the truncate apex 

 of the style ; pollen-masses pendulous, 1 in each anther-cell, attached 

 by short slender caudicles to the pollen-carriers, not compressed, waxy. 

 I'ollicles lanceolate, narrowed into a beak, small, glabrous. Seeds comos'e. 

 — DiSTEiB. Tropical Asia, Africa, and Australia ; species about 6. 



Corolla-lobes with long linear tails 1. P. cynanch.oidcs. 



Corolla-lobes lanceolate-deltoid (not tailed) 2. P. microphjUa. 



1. Pentatropis cynanchoides, 11. Br. in Salt, Vuy. ^Ayss. (1814) 

 Append, p. G4. Shruljby, glabrous or nearly so ; stems twining, slender. 

 Leaves |-1| in. long, very variable in breadth {\-^ in.), ovate or oblong 

 or elliptic or linear, acute or obtuse, usually mucronate, more or less 

 fleshy, glabrous ; petioles -^-^ in. long, slender. Tlowers greenish, in 

 lateral umbellate 3-6-flowered cymes ; peduncles from between the 

 ])etiole8, slender, rarely reaching | iu. long, sometimes almost ; pedicels 

 l-h in. long, fih form ; buds acuminate. Calyx deeply divided, slightly 

 pubescent ; segments ^-V-rV i"^- ^0"n5 ovate, acuminate. Corolla divided 

 almost to the base ; lobes ^-i in. long, narrowly linear from a triangular 

 base which is about ^ in. broad, glabrous outside, minutely puherulous 

 inside, the apex often curled; corona-lobes ^ in. long, arising a little 

 above the base of the staminal-column, slightly shorter than the column, 

 deltoid-oval^e, with subtruncate base and acute or acuminate apex, 

 compressed, adnate to the column for | of its length. Follicles 2-,'J by 

 ^ in., lanceolate, tajjcring into a beak, smooth, glabrous. Seeds ^ in. 

 long, ovate, flattened, minutely and irregularly crenate at the lower end ; 

 coma |-1 in. long. N. E. Brown, in Dyer, Flor. Trop. Afr. v. 4, p. 380. 

 Pentatrojiis spiralis, Decaisne, in Ann. Sc. Nat. ser. 2, v. 9 (1838) 

 p. 327; Hook. f. El. B. I. v. 4, p. 19; Aitch. Pb. & Sind PI. p. 90; 

 AVoodr. in Journ. Bomb. Nat. v. 12 (1898) p. 167 ; Walt, Diet. Econ. 

 Prod. V. 6, part 1, p. 132.— Elowers : Eeb, Veeist, Amharvel. 



In the Eombay Tresidency coniined to Sind. SiNn: SfocJ:s\, Dahdl'., Bhnla 

 Piircni I ; Tata, Cooke I ; Jemadar ka Landa near Karaolii, Stocks, 429 ! ; near Karachi, 

 ricflr?/!— DiSTEiB. India (Panjab and eastwards to the Jumna river); Afghanistan, 

 Beluchistan, Arabia, Tropical Africa. 



2. Pentatropis microphylla, Wiglit 6f Am. in Wvjhl, Contrib. 

 p. 52. A twining g];il)rous perennial herb, often slightly woody at the 

 base; stems very slender. Leaves i-1 by |-f in., broadly oblong or 

 ovate-elhptic, obtuse, mucronate, base rounded or cordate ; petioles 

 •^|- in. long. Flowers in lateral few-flowered cymes ; peduncles ^-^^ 

 in. long or less ; pedicels filiform, k in. long; buds subglobose. Calvx 

 deeply divided ; segments -^^ in. long, lanceolate, acute. Corolla divided 

 almost to the base; lobes i in. long, lanceolate-deltoid, acute, -j^^ in. 

 broad at the base, spreading or reiiexed ; corona-lobes y'^ in. long, 

 triangular, about equalling Ihe column or a little shorter than it, acute 



