174 LXXXIII. ASCLEPIAD.VCE.i;. 



inflated at the base, straight or curved ; lobes 5, more or less connate at 

 their tips, valvate in bud ; corona staminal, double, arising from the 

 staminal-column, the outer corona cup-shaped, entire or 5-10-toothed, 

 or of 5 bifid lobes more or less adnate to the inner corona-lobes and 

 often appearing to form one series with them, or reduced to minute 

 pouches alternating with the stamens, the inner corona of 5 short or 

 long lobes opposite the anthers and incumbent on them or erect, dorsally 

 adnate at their base to the cup of the outer corona or laterally to its 

 lobes, when the corona appears to be formed of 5 lobes with a tooth on 

 each side at the base. Staminal-column arising a little above the base 

 of the corolla, very short, included in its inflated basal part ; anthers 

 oblong or subquadrate without appendages ; pollen-masses erect, as- 

 cending or subhorizontal, 1 in each anther-cell, attached to the pollen- 

 carriers by short caudicles or subsessile. Style-apex not exserted, 

 truncate or shortly conical. Follicles lanceolate or linear-fusiform, 

 acuminate, smooth. Seeds comose. — Disteib. Africa, East Indies, 

 Malayan Archipelago, and Australia ; species perhaps 80 or more. 



A genus of plants the flowers of which are of curious form, many of them large and 

 beautifully colored. Unfortunately it is by no means easy to dry them so as to 

 produce good Herbarium specimens. Owing to the unavoidable deformations which 

 occur in pressing plants of a succulent nature, the floral organs of which are extremely 

 delicate, systematic work with Herbarium specimens is far from satisfactory. In 

 order to discriminate accurately between the several species of the genus, living plants 

 should be examined and careful dissections and colored drawings of the flowers made. 

 As most of the species appear in the rainy season, tlieir collection in the jungles during 

 the wet weather is neither easy nor pleasant, but there can be little doubt that the 

 Konkan and Deccan jungles would, if they could be explored during the months of 

 July and August when most of the species flower, yield some new species to aa 

 adventurous botanist, while seeds and tubers would be welcomed as valuable con- 

 tributions to conservatories at home. The islands in the harbor of Bombay may be 

 suggested as affording a good hunting-ground. 



Stem erect. 



Leaves linear, less than | in. wide ; corolla-lobes as long as or 



longer than the tube ..". 1. C. atteimata. 



Leaves ovate, 1 in. or more wide ; corolla-lobes shorter than 



the tube -■ C Laxcii. 



Stem twining. 

 Leaves fleshy. 



Leaves small, less than 1 in. long, or 3. C.jnncea. 



Leaves exceeding 1 in. long, never wanting 4. C. hulbosa. 



Leaves membranous. 



OoroUa-lobes ^ as long as the tube. 



Leaves and peduncles glabrous; corolla-lobes contracted 



into a narrow beak in bud O. C. tuherosa. 



Leaves and peduncles pubescent or hispid ; corolla-lobes 

 forming a clavate head in bud. 



Inner corona-lobes hooked 6. C. hirsuta. 



Inner corona lobes straight. 



Corolla-tube nmch inflated (almost globose) at the 



base; corolla-lobes lanceolate 7. C. oculata. 



Corolla-lobes as long as or nearly as long as the tube. 



Corolla-tube slightly inflated at the base; corolla-lobes 



linear 8. C. Slocksn. 



1. Ceropegia attenuata, ITooh. Icon. Pl.\. 9 (1852) t. 867. Erect, 

 0-12 in. liigh ; root tuberous ; stem more or less pubescent when young, 

 when mati'ire glabrous. Leaves 2-G by ^-^ in., linear, acute, narrowed 



