Obthanthkra.] ASCLEPIADACEJ2. 65 



minute biactfl near the base. Calyx deeply 5-lobed ; lobes lanceolate, 

 acute, reaching to the rounded sinuses of the corolla, pubescent. 

 Corolla dark purplish-browD, deeply 5-lobed ; lobes lanceolate, 

 snbobtuse, puberulous, margins recurved Inner corona of five, incum- 

 bent oblong emarginate scales. Follicles not seen. 



Found by Duthie's collector at Chakia in the Bahraich district of N. 

 Oudh. Flowers in April. Its affinity appears to bo with B. parviflcrwn 

 Ilk. f.,from which it differs in the broader leaves, tho shorter podicels 

 and in the size and colour of th-' flowers. From b. Ice v iff at am it may 

 be distinguished by its conspicuous foliage and by its solitary erect 

 and much larger flowers. A siugle specimen only was found, and the 

 material was insufficient for a complete description of the corona. 



17. ORTHANTHERA, Wight., Fl. Brit. Ind. i^, 64. 



An erect virgate leafless shrub. Flowers small, crowded in dense 

 peduncled wholly cymes. Calyx-lobes lanceolate, eglandular. Condla 

 salver-shaped ; tube ovoid, equalling the laneeolata valvate loi>es. 

 Corona of 5 small erect scales inserted in the sinuses of the corolla 

 lobes, sometimes with an inconspicuous fleshy ring below the 

 anthers. Staminal column ovoid, anther-tips without appendages 

 pollen-masses globose, stipitate, erect. Stiffma included, flat, 5-gonal. 

 Follicles elongate, cylindric, opening out flat after dehiscence. Seeds 

 ccmose. A single species confined to N. India. 



P. viminea, W. $ A. in Wight Contrib. 43 ; Royle III. 274, t. 66, f. 1 ; 

 Dene in. Jacquem. Bot. Voy. 109, t. 115 ; Brandts For. Fl. 335; Ind. Trees 

 *72 ; F. B. I. iv, 64 ; Watt E. D.; Kanjilal For. Fl. 245 ; Gamble Man. Ind, 

 Timb.493. Vern. Mahur-ghas (Bind), Chapkia (Bijnor), Khip (Delhi). 



A small erect leafless shrub with stiff glabrous branches about as thick 

 as a crow's quill. Flowers dull-brown, arranged in compact woolly 

 cymes ; peduncles ±-1 in. long, pedicels very short. Sepals linear- 

 lanceolate, nearly as long as the corolla. Corolla salvor- shaped, -y in. 

 long, villous outside, tube ovoid ; lobes erect, oblong, as long as the 

 tube, keeled and glabrous within. Follicles solitary, erect, 4-6 in. long, 

 linear, compressed; pericarp thin, brown within. Seeds £ in. long, 

 coma I in. long. 



Common in the stream- teds of the Siwalik range, and on the banks of 

 rivers in Dehra Dun, also in tho Bijnor forests and eastwards to the 

 Gonda district of N. Oudh, and westwards to Delhi and Merwara. 

 Flowers during March and April. Distrib.: Himalaya up to 2, SOO ft. from 

 Kumaon to Peshawar, Punjab, Sind and Rajputana. The fibre of th« 

 stem is often made into ropes, and in Oudh the flower-buds aro eaten as 

 a vegetable. 



