190 flora, indica. [Menispermacea. 



adnlta glabra, juniora subtus secus costam pubescentia, 2-3 poll, longa, 1-li lata, 

 in ranmlis sterilibus iuterdum 5-6 poll, longa, et ultra 2 poll. lata. Petioli £-1 poll. 

 longi, supcnie incrassati, pubescentes, demum glabrati. Panicula pubescentes, axil- 

 lares vel paullo supra-axillares, solitarii vel biui, tuberculo tomcntoso insertee ; mas- 

 cahe pctiolis dii[»lo longiores, parce ramosre, vel subracemosse, foemineae simplices, 

 petiolnm vix jecpiantes, pauciflorae, subuniflorse. Bract ea niinutse, subulatse. Drupa 

 vix i-pollicares. 



Hypserpa nitida, Miers (iu Hook. Kew Journ. Bot.), does not appear to be dis- 

 tinct from L. cuspidata. Cocculus cynanchoides, Presl, is perhaps also a synonym. 



8. COCCULUS, DC. 



Nephroia, Lour. ; Nephroica, Holopeira et Diploclisia, Miers. 



Sepala 6, biseriatim imbricata, exteriora minora. Petala 6, sepalis 

 minora, cuneata vel obovata, integra vel saepius emarginata, v. plerum- 

 que auviculata et in masc. circa stamina involnta. Mas. Stamina 6 ; 

 fil amenta cylindrica vel compressa ; antherre terminates, subglobossc, 

 1-lobre, biloculares, loculis lateraliter deliiscentibus profunde didymis. 

 Fce.m. Stamina sterilia 6 vel uulla. Ovaria 3, gynophoro brevi insi- 

 dentia. Styli erecti vel rcflexi, ovarii longitudine, cylindrici. Drupce 

 lateraliter compressse, obovatse vel rotundatse. Putamen fragile, hippo- 

 crepiforine, dorso carinatnm et varie tuberculatum, utrinque profunde 

 excavatum. Semen hippocrepiforme, cavitati putaminis conforme. Em- 

 bryo in albumine pnrco carnoso lioraotropus, radicula brevi cylindrica, 

 cotyledonibus linearibus planis. — Frutices scandentes vel saltern sarmen- 

 tosi y rarissime suberecti, $o\i\$ forma variis bast pseudo-articulatis, petiolo 

 yracili cylbidrico hand dilatato, inflorescentia axillari paniculata, pani- 

 culis elonyatis vel sapius pauci/loris et fcemineis iuterdum adjlorem soli- 

 tariurn reductis. 



We include iu this genus the whole of Mr. Miers' tribe Platygonecp, as we can- 

 Tiot attach that degree of importance to the shape of the petals (in itself indeed far 

 from constant in each species) which Mr. Miers seems to do; nor do we think that 

 the modifications of the structure of the putamen are either sufficiently constaut or 

 sufficiently important to be relied upon as generic distinctions. 



Diploclisia of Miers, with a very different habit from the other Indian species, 

 presents no characters by which to separate it genetically, except the elongated 

 drupe. 



Cocculus is mostly an Indian geuus, but several American species are no doubt 

 correctly referred to it, and some of the most common Indian species extend across 

 tropical Africa even to the west coast. One species (by Mr. Miers referred to Diplo- 

 clisia) is a native of New Holland, extending as far south as the colony of Victoria. 



Cocculus ovafifolius, DC, is also a true member of the genus, and is closely allied 

 to ft Carolinj'S. It is the Nephroia sarmentosa of Loureiro, of which Menispermum 

 hexagynum, Roxb. (C. hexagynus, Wall.) is a synonym. C. trilobus, DC, and Ne- 

 phroia pubinervis, Miers iu Hook. Kew Journ. iii. 259, from Hongkong, are also, 

 we believe, not distinct. 



Among the Menispermacete of Dr. Hooker's East Nipal collections there is a spe- 

 cimen, without flower or fruit, which so closely resembles Memspermum Dahuricmn 

 that it is probably a congener, and perhaps not specifically distinct. The leaves are 

 deeply three-lobed. There is also a three-lobed Menispermaeeous plant amoug Cap- 

 tain Straehey's Kumaon collections, but in a very bad state. The genus Meaisper- 

 mum only ditlers from (hi dus by having 12-18 instead of 6 stamens. 



