Cc. A. BARBER. 3 
half-climbing branches. It is thorny, but only on the older parts 
of the stem. The leaves are two-ranked, oval or oblong, shortly 
petioled, dark green, with a blunted apex, 2—3 inches long and 1 
inch broad. In the axils of the leaves there are small bunches 
of whitish, sweet-scented flowers and, later on, globular or ovate 
fruits. The latter are whitish in colour and have yellow flesh. 
The plant occurs all along the eastern coast of the Madras 
Presidency and for a considerable distance inland, chiefly at low 
elevations. It is also found in the low, dry part of Ceylon and 
various parts of Northern India. It is common in Burma and 
is found in Java. It belongs to a small genus of 25—30 species 
confined to the tropical parts of the Old World. 
Its associates in South India are pretty generally indicated 
by the appended list of the hosts examined, all ordinary 
inhabitants of the mixed (evergreen and deciduous) plains’ flora 
of the east coast. This flora is adapted to withstand great heat 
and drought but in places receives from 30 to 40 inches of rain 
during the wet half of the year. Leguminous trees such as 
Acacia arabica, A. leucoxylon, Dichrostachys cinerea, Prtheco- 
lobium dulce, Ponganua glabra, Albizzia Lebbek, Cassia siamea ; 
Awma tetracantha, Capparis sp., Streblus asper, Morinda 
tinctoria, Melia Azidarachta, Feronia Elephantum: climbérs 
like Jasminum sessiliflorum, Tragia involucrata, Rivea hypocra- 
teriformis, Asparagus racemosus, Solanum trilobatum : succulents 
such as Opuntia Dillenn, Jatropha gossypifolia, Vitis quadran- 
gularis ; and various small shrubs and herbs found in waste places 
or under the shade of trees, Ruellia, Phyllanthus, Phaseolus, 
Ocimum, Carissa and the smaller Cassias. All of which are 
dwellers on the Coromandel coast. 
3. The fruit is a drupe of somewhat curious form, apparently 
arillate from the fusion of the accrescent calyx with the pericarp 
to near the top (Plate I, fig. 1). The single seed is heavy and 
filled with oily endosperm in which lies the minute cylindrical 
embryo. The radicle is. superior. The abundant food in the 
seed enables the young plant to lead an independent life for a 
