182 flora indica. [Menisjpermacece. 



Frutex scaudens. Hamuli sulcati, glabriusculi vel niolliter pubescentes. Folia 

 4-8 poll, longa, 2-4 lata, petiolo 3-4-pollicari, priinordialia argute sinuato-dentata, 

 csetera integerrima, profunde cordata vel sagittata, basi 5-7-nervia, cseterum penni- 

 nervia, utrinque glabriuscula vel tenuiter pubescentia, vel subtus laxe et molliter to- 

 meutosa. Cymce axillares vel paullo supra-axillares, plerumque binse, petiolos tequan- 

 tesvel breviores, pluries dichotomy, multiflone, bracteis adramificationesfilifonnibus. 

 Flores minuti, pallidi, pubescentes. Sepala acutiuscula, nervosa. Petala obovato- 

 cuneata, superne triloba, lobo medio emarginato, lateralibus inflexis, interduin vix 

 lobata. Dmpce pulposse, viridescentes, succo viscido scatentes, ovales, laeves (in s : cco 

 rostratse) . 



A very variable plant. The leaves of young plants are often remarkably toothed. 

 Mr. Miers indicates four species, but he assigns no characters. We find the form 

 and clothing of the leaves to vary so much, even on the same specimens, that we are 

 fully persuaded that all the forms hitherto known belong to one species. 



4. TINOSPORA, Miers. 



Sepala 6, biserialia, interiora mnjora, ovalia vel obovata, membranacea. 

 Petala 6, sepalis iaterioribus minora, obovata vel cuneata. Mas. Sta- 

 mina 6 ; Jilamenta cylindrica, crassa, apice subclavata ; antherce bilocu- 

 lares, loculis oblique adnatis lateralibus. Pcem. Stamina sterilia 6, cla- 

 vata, carnosa. Ovaria 3, gynophoro convexo insidentia. Stigmata 

 lacera. Drupce 1-3, carnosse, dorso convexse, ventre planae, styli cica- 

 trice subterminali notatse. "Putamen rugosura, dorso carinatuin, ventre 

 leviter excavaturn. Podospermium in cavitatera projectum, leviter bi- 

 lobum, intus cavuin. Semen circa podospermium convolutum. Alba- 

 men carnosum, oleosum, antice laminis transversis ruminatum. Embryo 

 subcurvatus. Radicula supera cylindrica; cotyledones ovatse, divari- 

 cate, in loculis diversis albuminis segregate. — Frutices scandentes, pe- 

 tiolis basi a?iiculatis, basin versus incrassatis y racemis elongatis axillari- 

 bus vel terminalibus . 



This genus and the last agree with Asjndocarya in the subterminal position of the 

 style in the drupe, but differ from it in the decidedly amphitropous ovules and pel- 

 tate seeds. In Tinospora the internal process of the putamen is much more deve- 

 loped than in Parab&na, in which it is merely a depression on the surface of the 

 putamen, convex internally. Here (as in Anamirta and Coseinzum) the condyloid 

 process has a narrow base, and projects far into the interior of the cell, and is em- 

 braced by the overlapping edges of the seed. It is also hollow, and the interior is 

 occupied by a gelatinous mass. The cavity of it§ interior communicates with the 

 exterior of the putamen by two perforations in the latter, one on each side of the 

 median line. These do not, as in Anamirta and Coscinium, form elongated canals 

 in the thickened bony mass, but the structure is the same as in those genera, differ- 

 ing only in degree. The albumen on the ventral side of the seed is divided into 

 irregular masses by thin transverse plates of cellular tissue, which penetrate almost 



to the embryo. 



All the species of this genus are remarkable for their extreme vitality. When the 

 main trunk is cut across or broken, a rootlet is speedily sent down from above, which 

 continues to grow till it reaches the ground, and restores the connection. 



Cha&manthera of Hochstetter, with the habit and inflorescence of Tiiospora, has 

 monadelphous stamens. The fruit is also a little different, the concavity of what we 

 have called the podosperm forming a deep hollow on the ventral face of the putamen, 

 conspicuous externally as soon as the sarcocarp ia removed, almost as in Calyco- 

 carpum of Nuttall, figured in Asa Gn>\'s ( aera of North American plants. Tin- 



