46 ASCLEPIADACFJE. [Peeiploc^. 



A large glabrous twining shrub ; branches terete, whitish. Leaves 

 coriaceous, shortly stalked, 3-6 by l-2£ in., oblong-ovate or elliptic, 

 with a rounded or retuse and apiculate apex, usually acute at the base, 

 dark-green above, glaucous beneath ; main lateral nerves many, slender, 

 horizontal and uniting within the margin; petioles }-% in. long. 

 Flowers pale greenish-yellow, in short axillary panicled cymes ; bracts 

 ovate-lanceo'ate, with scarious margins. Calyx-lobes ovate, acute. 

 Corolla-lobes $ in. long, linear or linear-lanceolate. Corona of 5 clavate 

 scales. Follicles 2-4 in. long, stout, straight, terete, tapering. Seeds 

 •i in. long, ovate-oblong, compressed, black, coma 1^ in. long. 



Common within the area, especially in the deciduous forests of the sub- 

 Himalayan tracts and in Bundelkhand, also found in hedges. Flowers 

 May- June. Distrib. Throughout the hotter parts of India, ascending 

 to 4,000 ft. on the Himalaya ; also in Ceylon, Burma and China. A 

 useful fibre is said to be yielded by this plant. 



3. PEKIPLOCA, Linn. ; PI. Brit. Ind. iv, 11. 



Erect or twining glabrous shrubs, sometimes leafless. Leaves 

 opposite. Flowers in lax terminal or axillary cymes, greenish exter- 

 nally, purplish within. Calyx 5-partite, with five glands within. 

 Corolla rotate ; lobes obtuse, usually bearded within, overlapping to 

 the right. Coronal scales connate into a 10-lobed ring, often pro- 

 duced behind the stamens into five subulate or branched processes. 

 Stamens within the corona ; filaments free, broad and flat ; anthers 

 bearded on the back, conniving over and adhering to the stigma, tips 

 cohering and with Incurved appendages ; pollen-masses in pair3 in 

 each cell, granular ; appendages of the corpuscles dilated. Stigma 

 convex. Follicles conniving or divaricate, cylindric, smooth. Seeds 

 comose. — Species about 12, in S. Europe, W. Asia and tropical 

 Africa. 



Leaves small, ovate, usually absent ; follicles 

 divaricate . .... 1. P. aphylla. 



Leaves lanceolate, acuminate ; follicles not 

 divaricate 2. P. calophylla. 



1. P. aphylla, Dene, in Jacquem. Voy. 190, t. 116; Brandts For. Fl. 



330; Ind. Trees 467 ; F. B. I. iv, 12; Watt E. D. ; Gamble Man. Ind. Timb. 



490 ; Cooke Fl. Bomb, ii, 148. Campelepis viminea, Falc. in Trans. Linn. 



Soc. xix, 109. 



An erect branching shrub with milky juice, leafless or nearly so. Stems 

 many, as thick as a goose-quill or less, smooth or with pubescent tips. 

 Leaves (wheu present) £ in long, thick, ovate or oblong, acute, nerves 

 inconspicuous. Cymes many-flowered, often opposite, ^-1 in. long and 

 broad, on short thick peduncles or branching from the base ; bracts 



