650 



xciv. APOCTNACEjj. (J. D. Hooker.) 



\_Parsonsia. 



20. FARSONSXA, /;>-. 



Twining shrubs. Leaves opposite. Flowers small, white, in terminal or 

 axillary dich'otomous cymes or thyrsi. Calyx 5-partite, glandular within or 

 naked, or with 5 scales.* Corolla salver-shaped, tube short, cylindric or globose, 

 throat naked : lobete pverlappiDg to the right. Stamens inserted in the tube, fila- 

 ments often twisted; anthers half-ex serted, acute, conniving over and adhering 

 to the stigma, cells spurred and empty below. Disc of 5 lobes or scales. Ovary 

 2-celled; style filiform, top dilated, truncate, stigma columnar or elongate- 

 conical, cells many-ovuled. Fruit cylindric, carpels at length separating from 

 the two placentas. Seeds linear or oblong, tip narrowed and penicillate, albu- 

 men scanty; cotyledons linear-oblong, flat, radicle superior. DISTKIB. 12 

 species of tropical Asia, Australia and New Zealand. 



P. spiralis, Wall. Cat. 1631 ; quite glabrous, leaves ovate oblong or 

 oblong-lanceolate base acute rarely rounded or cordate, cymes axillary corym- 

 bose. A. DC. Pi-odr. viii. 402 ; Kurz For. Fl. ii. 180. P. oblonga, Wall. Cat. 

 1632 ; A. DC. I c. P. pauciflora and P. acuminata, Wall. Cat. 1633, 1634. 

 llelygia javanica, Blume Bijd. 1043. Heligme javanica, A. DC. I. c. 425. H. 

 Rheedei, Wight Ic. t. 1303.; Dalz. $ Gibs. JBomb. Fl. 146. H. spiralis, 

 Thwaites Enum. 193. 7 Spirostemon spiralis, Griff. Notul. iv. 80, t. 411, fig. 1. 

 Aganosma concanensis, Hook. Ic. PI. t. 841. 



SILHET ; Wallich. PEGU, TENASSERIM, MALACCA, SINGAPORE and PENANG. WESTERN 

 GHATS ; from the Concan southwards, CEYLON, ascending to 3000 ft. DISTRIB. 

 Malay Archipelago, China. 



An evergreen twiner. Leaves 3-7 by l|-3^ in., coriaceous, pale when dry ; nerves 

 6-8 pairs, arched ; petiole ^1 in. Cymes 23 in. diam. ; peduncle stout, half as long 

 as the leaves ; bracts small. Sepals ovate, very thick, obtuse, equalling the corolla- 

 tube. Corolla ^ in. diam., coriaceous ; lobes linear-oblong, obtuse. Fruits 7 by f in., 

 or shorter, elongate, linear-lanceolate, acuminate, quite cylindric, at length separating 

 into 2 coriaceous follicles. Seeds f in., slender, glabrous ; coma as long. 



TBIBE III. ECHITIDEJE. 

 21. VAX.X.ARXS, Burm. 



Twining shrubs. Leaves opposite, minutely dotted. Flowers white, in 

 subaxillary or axillary or supra-axillary dichotomous cymes, or fascicled. Calyx 

 5-partite, glandular or not within, segments narrow. Corolla salver-shaped, 

 tube short, throat naked ; lobes broad, overlapping to the right. Stamens at 

 the top of the tube, filaments very short clavate ; anthers exserted, conniving in 

 a cone adherent to the stigma, connective with a large dorsal gland, cells with 

 rigid basal spurs. Disc various. Carpels 2, at first connate, many-ovuled; 

 style filiform, pubescent, stigma thick obscurely annulate. Fruit oblong, 

 acuminate, carpels at length separating. Seeds 2-seriate, ovate, acuminate or 

 beaked, compressed, tip coinose, albumen scanty ; cotyledons flat thin, radicle 

 superior. DISTKIB. Species 5 or 6, tropical Asiatic and Malayan. 



* Flowers cymose. Twining shrubs. 



1. V. Heynei, Spreng. Syst. i. 635 ; leaves elliptic or oblong or linear- 

 oblong acuminate pellucid-dotted, cymes pubescent. A. DC. Prodr. viii. 400 ; 

 Dalz, $ Gibs. Bomb. FL 144. V. dichotoma, Wall. Cat. 1621 ; Griff. Notul. 

 iv. 77 ; A. DC. 1. c. ; Thwaites Enum. 192 ; Brand. For. Fl. 327 ; Kurz For. Fl. 

 ii. 181 ; Wight Ic. t. 438. Echites dichotoma, Eoxb. Fl. 2nd. ii. 19. Peltan- 

 thera solanacea, Roth Nov. ftp. 132. 



