FENTATBOPIS.] ASCLEPIAVACEM. 51 



half-way down, lobes triangular, acute, valvate at the base, tips 

 overlapping to the right in bud. Corona-scales 5, erect, ovate 

 or lanceolate, attached to the staminal column, 2-keeled within. 

 Stamens inserted at the base of the corolla- tube ; filaments short, 

 connate; anthers erect, tipped with an inflexed membranous append- 

 age ; pollen-masses one in each cell, oblong, compressed, pendulous 

 waxy. Stigma depressed or subconvex, not exserted beyond the 

 anthers. Follicles oblong and obtuse, or lanceolate and acute, often 

 solitary. Seeds comose. Species 4, in Trop. Asia and Africa. 



O. esculentum, R. Br. in Mem. Wern. Soc. i } 40 ; Eoyle III. 274; F. B. 

 I, iv t 17 ; Watt E. D. ; Train Beng. PI. 688 ; Coolie Fl. Bomb, ii, 152 

 Feriploca esculenta, Linn.f. ; Roxb. Cor. PI. i, 13. t. 11. Asclepias rosea, 

 Koxb. Fl. Ind. ii, 40. 



A glabrous climbing perennial herb. Stems many, slender, much 

 branched. Leaves deciduous, thin, pale green, 1^-4 in. long, lanceolate 

 or linear, acute or acuminate, the base acute rounded or cordate, 

 petioles in. long, very slender. Flowtrs drooping, 1 in. or more in 

 diam. ; peduncles slender, often exceeding the leaves. Calyx-lobes 

 oblong-lanceolate, acute. Corolla rotate, rose-coloured with purple 

 veins or nearly white ; lobes f in. long, with ciliate edges. Corona- 

 ecales acuminate, with incurved subulate tips. Style-apex slightly 

 convex. Follicles glabrous, 2-2g in. long, ovoid-lanceolate, tapering 

 to a point. Seeds many, ^ in. long, brcadly ovate, flat ; coma f- in, 

 long. 



Found in many parts of the area, especially in the sub -Himalayan tracts 

 of Kohilkhand and N. Oudh, also in Bundelkhand, usually growing 

 near water. Flowers Sept.-Dec. DISTKIB. Punjab to Ceylon, Bombay, 

 N. and E. Bengal, Burma, extending to China and Java. The fruit is 

 said to be eaten in Sind, and the milky juice and roots are used 

 medicinally. 



8, PENTATROPIS, B. Br. ; Fl. Brit. Ind. iv, 19. 

 Slender twining herbs or undershrubs. Leaves opposite, petioledj 

 usually small. Flowers small, on slender pedicels, arranged in 

 axillary nmbelliform cymes, purplish. Calyx 5-partite. Corolla 

 rotate, 5-partite ; lobes elongate, overlapping to the right, twisted to 

 the left. Corona of 5 laterally compressed scales adnate vertically 

 to the backs of the anthers. Stamens attached to the base of the 

 corolla, filaments connate, anthers with membranous inflexed append- 

 ages ; pollen-masses one in each cell, not compressed, pendulous, 

 waxy. Stigma snbtruncate. follicles small, glabrous, lanceolate 

 and with narrowed beak. Seeds comose. Species about 6, in Trop. 

 Asia, Africa and Australia. 



