52 ASCLEPIADACEM. [ D^mia. 



P. cynanchoides, B. Br. in Salt. Voy. Abyss., Append, p. 64 ; Cooke 

 Fl. Bomb, ii, 154. P. spiralis, Dene ; F. B. I. iv, 19 ; Wait E. D. ; Edgew . 

 in Journ. Linn. Soc. vi, 204, 1. 1, f. 9. 



A small twining shrub with tuberous roots, almost glabrous. Leaves f - 

 1J in. long, variable in width, ovate oblong: or linear, acute or obtuse; 

 usually mucronate, more or less fleshy, base rounded or cordate, 

 petioles slender, T %-i i n - l° G g> puberulous when young. Cymes 3-6-fld. 

 Flowers greenish; peduncles short or none, pedicels £-5 in. long, fili- 

 form. Calyx minute, deeply divided, puberulous; lobes ovate, acu- 

 minate. Corolla % in. in diam., divided nearly to the base ; segments 

 ^-5 in. long, narrowly acuminate, glabrous outside, puberulous within. 

 Corona-scales deltoid-ov:>te, acute or acuminate. Follicles 2-3 in, 

 Seeds ^ in. long, ovate, flat, minutely crenate at the lower end. 



In the dry western and south-western portions of the area, abundant in 

 the Jumna and Chambal ravines. Flowers in Feb. Distrib» Through- 

 out the Sind and Punjab plains, extending through Afghanistan and 

 Baluchistan to Arabia and Tropical Africa. The flowers are used 

 medicinally, and Stewart mentions that the sweet tubers are often 

 eaten. 



9. DiEMIA, E. Br. ; Fl. Brit. Ind. iv, 20. 



Twining pubescent or tomentose herbs or undershrubs. Leaves 

 opposite, cordate. Flowers in lateral racemose or corymbiform 

 peduncled cymes. Calyx 5-partite, glandular within. Corolla-tube 

 short, cylindric or campanulate ; lobes 5, large, ovate, spreading, 

 overlapping to the right. Corona double ; outer at the base of the 

 staminal column, annular, membranous, with 5 truncate or denticulate 

 lobes ; inner of 5 erect fleshy lobes, spurred at the base, adnate to 

 the staminal column up to the anthers, free above and produced into 

 in flexed subulate horns. Anthers erect, with a membranous inflexed 

 appendage ; pollen-masses one in each cell, compressed, pendulous, 

 waxy. Stigma exserted. Follicles lanceolate, usually echinate : 

 Seeds comose. — Species 6, in Trop. and Subtrop. Asia and Africa. 



D. extensa, B. Br. in Mem. Wern. Soc. i, 50 ; Royle III. 272 ; F. B. I. iv. 



20 : Watt E. D. ; Collett Fl. Siml, 315 : train Beng. PI. 692 ; Cooke F. 

 Bomb, ii, 155. Asclepias echinata, Roxb. ; Fl. Ind. ii, 44. 



A twining subhispid perennial foetid herb. Stems clothed with short 

 stiff spreading hair3. Leaves long-petioled, membranous, 2-4 in. long, 

 broadly ovate, acuminate, glabrous or slightly pubescent above, 

 hispid beneath especially on the veins, deeply cordate at the base, 

 basal lobes rounded and incurved, margins ciliate. Flowers pale 

 yellowish-green tinged with pink at the base, corymbose at first then 

 racemose ; peduncles 2-6 in. long, pubescent ; pedicels capillary, -§-2 in. 

 long. Ca ly x divided almost to the base, pubescent ; lobes _ i-in. long, 

 ovate-lanceolate, acute, ciliate. Corolla | in. long ; lobes twice as long 



