66 xcv. ASCLEPIADEJE. (J. D. Hooker.) [Brachystelma. 



Corolla 1 in. diam., purplish, lobes crenulate. Column inserted by a very small 

 base. 



7. B. Beddomei, Hook.f. ; glabrous, leaves very slender elongate acu- 

 minate, umbels peduncled 3 fld., corolla-lobes many times longer than the tube 

 glabrous cohering by their tips corona with 5 very broad rounded lobes. Oero- 

 pegia brevitubulata, Beddome Ic. PI. Ind. Or. t. 174. 



MYSORE; Vellore hills, alt. 1000 ft., Beddome. 



Glabrous, except the puberulous cyme. Leaves in distant pairs, 3-4 by | in., 

 narrowed to the sessile base. Peduncle in. ; bracts setaceous ; pedicels % in. Sepals 

 setaceous. Corolla quite glabrous, pale without, purple within ; segments 1 in. long, 

 very narrow, flat. Corona with the processes opposite the anthers so entirely confluent 

 with them as to appear to be absent. This singular species has the corolla of 

 Brachystelma with the segments cohering by their tips as in Ceropegia ; it unites the 

 characters of these genera. 



50. CEROPEOIA Linn. 



Twining, rarely erect herbs, often with, a tuberous rootstock. Leaves 

 opposite, sometimes minute or 0. Flowers in axillary peduncled umbelliform 

 cymes, rarely solitary, often large, white or greenish and purple. Sepals nar- 

 row. Corolla-tube elongate, straight or curved, often swollen at the base, 

 throat dilated or not ; lobes very various, broad or narrow, erect or incurved 

 with cohering tips, often at length recurved or reflexed. Corona adnate to the 

 column, annular or cupular, 5-10-1 obed and with 5 long or short ligulate pro- 

 cesses within that are free or adnate to the anthers. Column short ; anther 

 short, obtuse ; pollen-masses one in each cell, short, erect, sessile, with one pel- 

 lucid margin. Stigma depressed or shortly 2-lobed, included. Follicles usually 

 slender, terete, smooth. Seeds comose. DISTRIB. Species about 50 ; tropical 

 Asian, African and South African, with a few Malayan and Australian. 



Herbarium materials do not suffice to enable me to discriminate satisfactorily the 

 species of this most difficult genus, and still less to describe them accurately. The 

 classification I here propose is quite artificial. 



* Stem erect, rarely flexuous or twining. 



1. C. pusilla, Wight Ic. t. 1261 ; dwarf, puberulous, leaves linear, corolla 

 straight, lobes linear erect much shorter than the tube, tips puberulous. Watt. 

 Cat. 8140 ; Dene, in DC. Prodr. viii. 643. 



DECCAN PENINSULA ; Nilgherry and Anamallay Mts., alt. 7-8000 ft., Wight, &c. 



Tuber -1 in. diam. Stem 3-6 in. Leaves rather crowded, 1-3 by ^-5- in., 

 narrowed at the base. Flowers solitary or 2-3-nate, erect. Sepals - in. Corolla 

 1 in., tube narrow, base ovoid. Coronal lobes 5, triangular, acute, 2-fid, ciliate ; pro- 

 cesses narrowly linear, three times as long. Follicles 2 in., narrowly fusiform. 



2. C. spiralis, Wight Ic. t. 1267 ; quite glabrous, leaves very narrowly 

 linear, corolla straight, lobes narrowly linear contorted as long as the tube 

 fimbriate at the base. 



DECCAN PENINSULA ; Balaghat hills, Madras, Wight ; Cuddapa hills, Beddome. 



Stem slender, 4-6 in. Leaves 4-8 by -% in., margins recurved. Flowers solitary, 

 shortly peduncled. Sepals filiform, -^ in. Corolla 2 in. long, base slightly inflated, 

 mouth hardly dilated. Coronal lobes 5, triangular, acute, glabrous ; processes slender, 

 three times as long. 



3. C. fimbrifera, Beddome in Madras Lit. Soc. Journ. 1861, 53, and Ic. 

 PL Ind. Or. t. 172 ; finely pubescent, leaves narrowly linear, corolla straight, 



