186 flora indtca. [Menispernwcea. 



being another species. In a specimen from Ceylon, not otherwise distinguishable, 

 the leaves are acute at the base; and our Khasia specimens, which are not in flower, 

 have very lucid, ovate, somewhat elongated, sub peltate leaves, which seem to belong 

 to a young shoot. One of Gardner's Ceylon specimens lias very similar leaves. "Wight 

 and Arnott quote also C.Jlacescens, DC. (described from Rurnph. v. t. 24), and C. 

 orbiculatus, DC. (Rheede, si. t. 62), The latter synonym is very doubtful. Rheede's 

 plate does not at all resemble the present genus, and the description in DC. Syst. i. 

 523, which is taken from a specimen in the Lambertian Herbarium, belongs, no doubt, 

 to Cissampelos Pareira. The berries of Jnamirta Cocculus, which are poisonous, ■ 

 are employed by the natives of India to kill fish. In England they are extensively j 

 used in the adulteration of beer. 



Tribus III. Coccule/e, 



Ovaria 3 vel plura. Drupes obovatae vel hippocrepiformes, styli ci- 

 catrice fere basilari, plus minus lateraliter coinprcssae, cavitate seniini 

 subcylindrico conformi. Embryo in albuinine parco axilis ; colyledones 

 appositse, elongate. 



The structure of the seed of this tribe is completely masked in the fresh drupe by 

 the sarcocarp, but, in a dried state, the outer coat shrinks so as to display the mark- 

 ings and structure of the putamen. "When the sarcocarp is removed, the putamen is 

 seen to form an elongated cylinder, folded on itself, so as to bring the base and apex 

 into contact; the concavity of the horse-shoe being filled up by a beny plate, va- 

 riously perforated, along which the nutritive vessels pass to the hilum, which is 

 situated at the apex of the sinus : in this way the radicular extremity of the seed, 

 which is really superior, is brought down close to the base of the drupe. 



The genus Tlliacora is placed in a distinct tribe by Mr. Miers, on account of its 

 numerous ovaries, ruminated albumen ,. and val vat e calyx; but as Tinospora among 

 Tinosporea? has ruminated albumen, which is wanting in others of the same tribe, and 

 several species of Liniacia have a valvate aestivation of the inner sepals, we cannot 

 think that it is desirable to retain the tribe Tiliacorea. 



6. TILIACORA, Colebrooke. 



Sepala 6, biserialia, exteriora rnulto minora, interiora ovalia, festiva- 

 tione margine vix imbricate. Petala 6, minuta, cuneata. Mas. Sta- 

 mina 6 ; Jilamenta cylindrica subcompressa ; antherte adnatse, introrsse, 

 biloculares. Fcem. Ovaria 9-12, stylo brevi subulato apiculata, gyno- 

 phoro brevi insidentia. Drupa pedicellate, obovatse, lateraliter sub- 

 compressse, prope basin styli cicatrice notatae. Putamen tenue, lis;no- 

 sum, obscure costatnm, utrinque sulco notatum. Semen uncinato-in- 

 curvum. Testa tennissima. Albumen oleosum, endospermii plicis mera- 

 branaceis nmriuatum. Embryo semen longitudine fere sequans. Radi- 

 cula cylindrica. Cotyledones carnosae, plano-convexae.- — Frutices alte 

 scandentes, inflorescentia axillari paniculata, petiolis gracilibus basi arti- 

 cidatis. 



Tiliacora is readily distinguished from all the other genera of its tribe by its rumi- 

 nated albumen and numerous ovaries. One species only is known to us, which is 

 widely ditfused throughout tropical India. Mr. Miers alludes to an hermaphrodite 

 species from Ceylon, but this we have not seen ; and Mr. Thwaites's Ceylon speci- 

 mens do not differ in any way from continental or Malayan ones. 



In Tlliacora the stem, when several years old, and one-third of an inch in dia- 

 meter, is cylindrical, hard, and woody, striated externally. Pith very dense and 



