22 V. MENISPERMAOE^. 



V. 2, p. 397. Coccidus <jlaher, W. &. A. Prodr. p. 13.— Flowers : Nov.- 



Dee. 



In Siud and Gujarat. Sind : near Karacbi, Coofe !, JFoof^row ! Gujauat: Dwarka, 

 Woodrow\; Porbaudar, CooJic\ — Distuib. Afghanistan, Arabia, Africa. 



5. STEPHANIA, Loureiro. 



Climbing shrubs. Leaves usually peltate. Tlowers umbellate. Male 

 FLOAVERS : Sepals 6-10, fi-ee, 2-seriate. Petals 3-5, shorter than the 

 sepals, obovate, fleshy. Anthers 6, connate into a ring encircling the 

 top of the staminal column, bursting transversely. Female flowers : 

 Sepals 3-5. Petals as in the male. Stamiuodes 0. Ovary 1 ; style 3- 

 6-partite. Drupe glabrous ; endocarp compressed, horseshoe-shaped, 

 dorsally tubercled, sides hollow and perforate. Seed almost annular ; 

 cotyledons long, slender, ^-terete, appressed. — Distrib. Tropics of the 

 Old World and Australia ; species 4. 



1. Stephania hemandifolia, Walp. Rep. v. 1 (1842) p. 96, A 

 slender twining shrub ; branchlets striate ; young shoots glabrous. 

 Leaves peltate, thinly coriaceous, 3-5 by 2|-4 in., ovate or subdeltoid, 

 acute, acuminate, or subobtuse, mucronate, rounded or truncate at the 

 base, glabrous on both surfaces or slightly puberulous ou the nerves, 

 glaucescent beneath ; petioles 15-3 in. long, inserted more than | in. 

 within the basal margin, slender, striate, glabrous. Flowers minute, 

 nearly sessile, in small umbels at the ends of long-stalked axillary umbels ; 

 bracts subulate. Peduncles about 1 in. long, very slender, glabrous ; 

 rays 8-12. Sepals : in the male 6, the outer smaller than the inner, 

 obovate, subobtuse ; in the female usually 3-4, ovate, acute. Petals 3-4, 

 obovate-cuueate in both sexes, about half the length of the sepals. 

 Drupes solitary, subsessile, g in. long, obovoid, compressed, glabrous ; 

 endocarp deeply and sharply trausverselv ridged. Seed curved almost 

 into a ring. Fl. B. I. v. 1, p. 103 ; Dak." ^fc Gibs. p. 6 ; Trim. Fl. Ceyl. 

 V. 1, p, 45; Talb. Trees, Bomb. p. 8; Woodr. in Journ. Bomb, Nat. 

 v. 11 (1897) p. 121 ; Watt, Diet. Econ. Prod. v. 6, part 3, p. 359.— 

 Flowers: July-Aug, 



KoxKAN : Lcav !, Balzcll 4' Gihson, Talliot. Deccax : bills near Jiiunar, Woodrow ! ; 

 Khandala, Woodrovj ! ; Lanoli, CooJiC ! Kanara: N. Kanara, Talhof. — Distuib. Malaya, 

 tropical Africa and Australia. 



6. CISSAMPELOS, Linn. 



Suberect or climbing shrubs. Leaves often peltate. INIale flowers 

 cymose. Sepals 4, Petals 4, connate into a subentire, short cup. 

 Anthers 2-4, sessile, connate, encircling the top of the peltate staminal 

 column, bursting transversely. Female flowers racemose, crowded 

 in the axils of roundish, leafy bracts. Sepals and petals 1 of each, 

 2-nerved, adnate to the bracts. Staminodes 0. Ovary 1 ; style short, 

 3-fid or 3-toothed. Drupe subglobose ; style-scar sub-basal ; endocarp 

 compressed, dursally tubercled, the sides excavated. Seed horseshoe- 

 shaped ; embryo linear; cotyledons appressed. — Distrib. America, 

 tropical Asia, tropical and S, Africa ; species about 18, 



1. Cissampelos Pereira, Linn. Sp. PI. (1753) p. 1U31. A climb- 

 ing shrub ; branches striate, pubescent or subglabrous. Leaves peltate, 



