64 xcv. ASCLEPIADE^E. (J. D. Hooker.) [Leptadenia. 



surfaces alike, nerves very faint ; petiole - in. Cymes solitary or in pairs, ~-l in. 

 diam. ; many-fld. ; peduncles shorter or longer than the petioles. Calyx-lobes 

 obtuse. Corolla in. diam., thick, pubescent on both surfaces ; tip of lobes keeled 

 and thickened on the face, most so at the tips ; tube glabrous, shining from the adnate 

 corona which is continued halfway down the middle of the lobes. Follicles 2^-3 in. 

 long, |-| in. diam., turgid, straight, smooth, almost woody ; beak thick, curved. 

 Seeds | in., long, narrowly ovoid. I think this hardly differs from an East African 

 species. 



2. Xi. Spartium, Wight Contrib. 48 ; erect, leaves narrowly linear or 0, 

 cymes subsessile few-fld. hoary. Watt. Cat. 8199 ; Dene, in DC. Prodr. viii. 

 629 ; Boiss. Fl. Orient, iv. 63. L pyrotechnics, Dene, in Ann. Sc. Nat. 1838. 

 269, and in DC. Prodr. I. c. L. Jacquemontiana and gracilis, Dene. II. cc. 

 Oynanchum pyrotechnicum, Forsk. ; Del. Fl. Egypt, t. 20. Sarcostemma pyro- 

 technica, J5r. Prodr. 453. Microloma pyrotechnica, Spreng. Syst. i. 855. M. 

 angustifolia, Herb. Ham. 



The PUNJAB and SCINDE, eastwards to the Jiimna. DISTKIB. Beluchistan, Arabia, 

 Egypt, Senegambia. 



A glabrous shrub 3-4 ft. high, with long erect twiggy branches. Leaves when 

 present 3-4 by \ in., acuminate, shortly petioled, leathery. Flowers as in L. reticu- 

 lata, but smaller, ^ in. diam. Follicles 5 in. long, ^ in. diam., terete, straight, pro- 

 duced into a very long slender straight beak. 



48. ORTKANTHERA, Wight. 



An erect twiggy leafless shrub. Flowers small, in dense-fld. peduncled 

 woolly cymes. Sepals lanceolate, eglandular. Corolla salver-shaped, tube 

 ovoid, equalling the lanceolate valvate lobes. Corona double ; corolline of 

 minute scales between the corolla-lobes ; staminal a raised undulate ring below 

 the anthers. Column ovoid, anther-tips inappendiculate ; pollen-masses globose, 

 sessile, erect. Stigma included, flat, 5-gonal. Follicles elongate, cylindric, 

 opening out flat after dehiscence. Seeds cdmose. 



O. viminea, Wight fy Am. Contrib. 48 ; Royle III. t. 66 ; Dene, in DC. 

 Prodr. viii. 626, and in Jacquem. Voy. Bot. 109, t. 105. Apocynea viminea, 

 Wall. Cat. 7478. 



NORTH-WEST INDIA ; along the base of the Himalaya, alt. 1-3000 ft. fromPeshawur 

 and the Punjab to Oudh. 



Branches stout, erect, as thick as a crowquill. Peduncles -l in.; flowers 

 shortly pedicelled, very woolly. Sepals equalling the corolla-tube. Corolla villous 

 outside, glabrous within ; lobes keeled down the centre of the face. Follicles erect, 

 5 in. long. The long sepals and salver-shaped corolla are such strong generic 

 characters that I do not follow the " G-enera Plantarum " in uniting this genus with 

 Leptadenia. 



49. BRACHYSTEX.1KA, JBr. 



Erect or twining pubescent or glabrous herbs with tuberous roots. Leaves 

 opposite, sometimes very narrow or minute. Flowers few, in axillary sessile 

 umbels or solitary, pedicels very slender. Corolla (in the Indian species) 

 rotate ; lobes 5, elongate, valvate. Corona short, adnate to the column, annu- 

 lar, variously 5-10-lobed or -toothed, lobes or teeth erect or incumbent on the 

 anthers. Column very short ; anthers ovoid, tips inappendiculate, retuse ; 

 pollen-masses one in each cell, sessile, globose, erect, one margin pellucid. 

 Stigma nearly flat. Follicles slender, smooth. Seeds comose. DISTRIB. About 

 14 African species, and the following. 



