PENTABOTHBA,] ASCLEPIADACE^E. 40 



Arabia to Egypt and Trop. Africa. This plant possesses properties very 

 similar to those of the preceding. 



3. C. Acia, Ham. in. Trans. Linn. Soc. xiv, 247; F. B. I. iv, IS, 



WattE. D. ; Kanjilal For. Fl. 241; Gamble Man. Ind Tinib. 491 ; Prain 

 Peng. PI. 689. Asclepias herbacea, Roxb. Fl. Ind. ii, 50. 



Stems herbaceons. Leave petioled, 6-9 by 3-4 in., obovate oblanceolate 

 or oblong 1 , acute or abruptly acuminate at the apex, tapering 

 towards the base, clothed beneath when young 1 with deciduous 

 white floccose tcmentum ; midrib very stout; main lateral nerves 

 about 6 pairs, prominent beneath, srcuate; petiole -1 in. long. 

 Floivers about 1 in. across, arranged in compound umbels. Calyx 

 about half as long as the corolla ; lobes lanceolate, acuminate, green 

 tinged with pink, floccose-tomentose outside. Corona greenish at the 

 base, purplu-h above; lobes erect, A in long, tapering to an acumi- 

 nate apex, margins undulate- Corona-lobes glabrous, pink, shorter 

 than the staminal column, with 2 obtuse auricles below the bifid 

 apex, basal spur abruptly incurved. Follicles subglobose, up to 

 4 in. long. 



PeLra Dun, in grassy places at Kansrao and Lachiwala, etc.; and also in 

 tte sub- Himalayan tracts of Pilibhit, Kheri and Bahraich. DISTBIB. 

 Eastwards to N. and E. Bengal, Sikkim and Assam. This species 

 may be readily distinguished by its stalked leaves. The juice of 

 this plant is very acrid. 



5. PENTABOTHRA, Hook, f.; Fl, Brit. Ind. iv, 18. 



A dwarf erect glabrous herb. Leaves opposite, linear. Flowers 

 medium-sized, in axillary umbellitorm short -ped uncled cymes. 

 Calyx 5-paitite, minutely glandular vithin. Corolla campanulate, 

 deeply 5-lobed ; lobes oblong-ovate, overlapping to the right. Corona 

 of 5 pouch-like folds at the base of the staminal column alternating 

 with, the anthers, and 5 fleshy laterally compressed processes with 

 free obtuse tips adnate longitudinally to the backs of the anthers. 

 Anthers large, horny, membiancus, tips large and oblong ; pollen 

 IE asses one in each ceil, elongate, ccmpressed, falcate, with long 

 caudicles, pendulous, waxy. Stigma a depressed 5-angled cone, 

 included. Fruit not seen. A single species confined to India. 



P. nana, HOOK. /. Ic. PL 1426; F.B.l.iv,19. Cynanchum nanum, 

 Sam. in Wight Contrib. 59. 



Stems 5-8| in. high, rigid, divided below. Leaves 2-4 by - in., those 

 about the middle of the stem the longest, spreading, linear, acute, 

 base cordate, u idrib stout, nerves faint, petio'e ^ in. long. Umbels 

 clustered, many-flowered, pedicels in., hracts lanceolate. Sepals 

 linear-lanceolate, puberulous. Corolla * in. in diam., reddish purple 

 within and glabrous, lobes with ciliate edge's. 



