168 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. • 



gunDy-bags. These are the common, coarse bags in which Indian pro- 

 duce is sent to market. They are also extensively used in the ship- 

 ment of agricultural products in this country. The manufacture of 

 these bags is an industry which pervades all classes in Lower Bengal, 

 and penetrates into every household. Men, women, and children hnd 

 occupation therein. Boatmen in their spare moments, husbandmen, and 

 domestic servants, everybody, in fact, pass their leisure moments, dis- 

 taff in hand, spinning gunny-twist. All the finer and long-stapled jiite 

 is reserved for the exj)ort trade, while the short staple serves for the 

 local manufacture of gunny -bags. The export of jute from India has 

 rapidly increased during the past twentv years, and now reaches nearly 

 3,000,000 bales. 



WHAT IS CUNDURANGO ? 

 Plate 1. Cundiirango (SchnVerila.) 



Fig. 1, A portion of tlie plant, nearly natural size. 



Fig. 2. A llower, -with two of the sepals reflexed. 



Fig. 3. A vertical section of the tube of the corolla magnifiecl about five diameters. 



Fig. 4. A transverse section of the corolla, showing the gynostegium from above. 



Fig. 5. A section of the ovaries. 



Fig. C. The pollen masses. 



There have been in cultivation in the green-house of the Department 

 for some two years several cundurango plants, raised from seed, and 

 procured through the United States consul from South America, from 

 whence comes the supply of that article which has recently been intro- 

 duced and recommended as a remedy for cancer and various other dis- 

 eases. We do not propose to discuss the medical properties of this 

 plant, but simply to contribute something toward the solution of the 

 often-asked question, What is cundurango"? 



The iilants raised in the green-house under that name evidently be- 

 longed to two or three distinct genera, the larger portion, however, being 

 of one kind. This latter proved to be a twining i^lant, and two pots were 

 placed near a post where they were at liberty to indulge their twining 

 habit. They grew vigorously the past summer, twined around a Ban- 

 Mnia, ascended to a height of 10 or 12 feet, and eventually came into 

 flower, but perfected no seed. 



The structure of the flowers at once showed it to belong to the natural 

 order Asclepiadacew. Its twining habit, opposite leaves, and axillary 

 umbellate flowers, at first sight suggest a Gonolohits, but the intimate 

 structure of the flower does not correspond to that genus. A careful 

 examination was made of such botanical works as could be procured, 

 including the extended account of Ascleinadacem in De CandoUe's Pro- 

 dromus, but without much satisfaction. The accompanying cut was 

 prepared by Professor W. H. Seaman, of the Department. The plant 

 may be briefly described as follows : Leaves 4 to 5 inches long, 2 to 3 

 inches broad, entire, oblong, with a heart-shaped base, or sometimes 

 cordate-obovate, with a slender i^oint, covered on the veins and peti- 

 oles with long, soft, reddish hairs; petioles one inch or more long. 

 Flowers in a simple umbel ; general peduncle about equaling the i)eti- 

 oles, recurved ; umbel about ten-flowered, with numerous filiform bracts, 

 which are glandular, hairy, and longer than the iiedicels ; pedicels ^ to 

 ^- inch long ; sepals 5, lanceolate, awl-i)ointed, longer than the tube of 

 the corolla; corolla thickish, green, somewhat urn-form, with a globu- 

 lar base, a little constricted at the throat, surmounted with five ovate, 

 spreading, slightly-reflexed lobes. Within the tube of the corolla are five 



