90. ASCLEPIDACEM. [11. Holostbmma. 



compressed, pendulous, waxy. Stigma flat 2-lobed. Follicles thick, 



acute. 



Note.— The coronal scales are described as membranous in the F.B.I. They are 

 so in the herbarium, but in our species at least they are thick and fleshy m a state 

 of nature, 



1. R. pulchelluni, Wall. 



Eather a large twiner with ovate cordate leaves 4-9" long and 

 handsome pure white rather fleshy campanulate flowers 1-1'5" long 

 and broad, in few-fld. cymes. Pedicels 1-1-3". Follicles 6" by 1-5 , 

 fusiform {fide F.B.I.) . 



Evergreen forest near streams in deep valleys, Singbhum ! Fl. Aug.-Sept. 



L. very membranous when dry, glabrous or puberulous beneath \yith o-/ strong 

 primary nerves and a wide basal sinus, around which the basal auricles sometimes 

 incurve, tip usually cuspidate, base of midrib glandular, sec. n. ot mid-rio ci-o, 

 tertiaries not reticulate. Petiole 2-5". Stipular lines with stout g ands. bepais 

 elliptic rounded •2--25" (very variable in size, F.B.I.) . Corolla lobes obliquely 



^^^Se? describes the follicles from a drawing as " solitary (?) sharply deflexed 

 from the very base, slightly upcurved. green." I have not seen them. 



10. PENTATROPIS, Br. 



Twiners with small leaves and small purplish flowers in axillary 

 sub-umbelliform cymes or racemes with filiform pedicels. Corolla 

 rotate, petals twisted to the left and slightly overlapping to the 

 right. Corona staminal, of laterally compressed radiating fleshy 

 laminae spurred at the base and with a free apex. Anthers with b. 

 small membranous inflexed tip. PoUinia roimded. FoUicles fusi- 

 form. 



1. P. microphylla, W. .\- A. 



A slender twiner with glabrous stems and glabrous oblong apiculate 

 leaves -S-IS" long with rounded or cordate base and petioles '^-'}^" 

 long. Fls. about -4" diam. on slender pedicels •25--5" long arising 

 from a short rhachis scaly with small lanceolate bracts. Follicles 

 1-5-2" long on firm pedicels -Q-^" long, acuminate. 



Mahanadi delta ! Fl. March- June. Fr. Aug.-Sept. ^^^iof« 



L. with 2-3 indistinct sec. n. Sep. ovate-lanceolate "0/ ', petals broadly lanceolate 

 •lo-'2" minutely' pubescent on the face, very acute. 

 It sometimes'resembles Hemidesmus indicus. 



11. HOLOSTEMMA, Br. 



Twining shrubs Avith cordate leaves, membranous when dry. 

 Flowers farge, purple inside, in axillary few-fld cymes. Sepals 

 ^glandular. Corolla campanulate or sub-rotate, lobes thick ovate, 

 overlapping to the right. Corona double ; outer thick annular fleshy, 

 sometimes "lO-lobed partly adnate to base of corolla and of column; 

 inner of 5 horny 2-winged processes at the backs of the anthers, the 

 ■wings of adjacent anthers sometimes contiguous so that the column 

 appears 5-winged with each Aving 2-lamellate. Anther-tips mem- 

 branous erect obtuse, pollinia 1 in each cell long linear pendulous 

 attached to the black corpuscle (situated at the apex of each pair of 

 wings) by very long black pedicels. Stigma 5-Avinged. Follicles 

 thick. 



553 



