184 The Flowering Plants of Western India. 



beneath, follicles horizontal, united at the base, very gradually- 

 tapering. Wdkkandi. 



Common; throughout India (ff.). 



3. GYMNEMA. 



G. sylvestre. Stout, leafy, leaves small, ovate or lanceolate, 

 flowers yellow, in crowded umbels, follicles cylindrical, taper- 

 ing. Wdkhandij kali kardori, pit 'mi. 



S. Konkan, Ghauts and S. M. country; common; when out of 

 flower it looks rather like honeysuckle. Its leaves when chewed are 

 said to destroy for a considerable time the power of tasting sweet 

 things. * G. montanum (Bidaria elegans, D.), smooth leaves, cordate, 

 ovate or lanceolate, follicles very thin. Higher Ghauts (D.). 



4. OXYSTELMA. 



0. esculentum. A delicate and beautiful twiner, leaves long, 

 linear lanceolate, grass-like, flowers long-stalked, 2 or 3 to- 

 gether, nearly white, streaked and shaded with purple inside, 

 follicles cylindrical, smooth, tapering. DJiudika, dhuddni. 



"The lovely twining Asclepias." Sir W. Jones. 



Deccan and Konkan ; often on milkbush ; throughout the plains 

 and lower hills of India (H.). 



5. CALOTROPIS. 



1. 0. gigantea. A large stout shrub with large ovate, 

 cordate or stem-clasping leaves, downy beneath, corolla pale, 

 purple or mottled, occasionally white, lobes reflexed, follicles 

 ovoid, green, 3 or 4 inches long, hair round the seeds very 

 silky. Arak, maddr, rui. 



2. C. procera. Very likely the last, but smaller, leaves said 

 to be more oblong and acute, and the corolla lobes erect. Ldl 

 maddr, Tdmlada dkar. 



These are among the commonest shrubs in India, and almost 

 always in flower. I never could make out the difference between 

 the two species, as the distinctions given seemed to me to be not 

 only trifling, but also not constant; and R. knew of only one species. 

 There are also various differences of opinion among the authorities 

 as to the distribution of the two species. One or both of these shrubs 

 has the property of maintaining a very low temperature, Hooker 

 having fuund the fresh milky juice to be 70, when the soil surround- 

 ing the roots was from 90 to 304, and the exposed leaves 80, when 

 the surrounding earth was about 105. Himalayan Journals. 



One of the broomrapes, Cistanche tubulosa, is said to be parasitic 

 on these bushes. 



