GYMNEMA.] ASCLEPIADACE&. 53 



as the campanulate tube,, ovate, acute ; margins ciliate. Follicles 

 reflexed, 2-3 by % in., covered with long soft spines, lanceolate, beaked. 

 Seeds % in. long, ovate, crenate at the rounded base, densely pubescent. 



Abundant within the area. Flowers Jan. -April. DISTRIB. Through- 

 out the hotter parts of India and in Ceylon, ascending to 3,000 ft. on 

 the Himalaya ; also in Afghanistan, extending to Arabia and 

 Tropical Africa. The fibre of the stem has been recommended as a 

 promising substitute for flax. The leaves and juice are used medicinally. 



10..GYMNEMA, R. Br. ; Fl. Brit. Ind. iv, 28. 



Twining shrubs. Leaves opposite. Floivers small, in crowded 

 umbelliform cymes. Calyx 5-partite. Corolla subrotate 

 campanulate or urceolate ; lobes thick, overlapping to the right. . 

 Corona adnate to the corolla-tube, the tips more or less incurved, 

 or of 5 pairs of fleshy ridges alternating with the corolla-lobes 

 towards the base of the tube. Stvtminal-column attached to the 

 base of the corolla ; anthers short, erect, with short membranous 

 tips ; pollen-masses solitary in each cell, erect, waxy. Stigma 

 large, often exserted. Follicles slender or turgid, smooth, acu- 

 minate. Seeds comose. Species 20-25, in Asia, Africa and 

 Australia. 



Corona-scales protruded beyond the sinuses of 

 the corolla-lobes Large pubescent woody 

 climbers: 



More or less pubescent, cymes dis- 

 tinctly peduncled, corolla about in. in 

 diameter . . . . . . 1. G. sylvestre. 



Softly rusty-tomentose, cymes subsessile, 



corolla about 5 in. in diameter . . 2. 6r. hirsutum. 

 Corona-scales not produced beyond the sinuses 

 of the corolla-lobes. An extensive almost 

 glabrous climber 3. G. ting ens. 



sylvestre, R. Br. in Mem. Wern. Soc. i, 33; Roylelll. 273; 

 Brandis Ind. Trees 469 ; F. B. I. iv, 29 ; Watt K. Z>, / Gamble Man. 

 Ind. Timb. 492 ; Coo/re Fl. Bomb, ii, 160. G. melicida, Edgew. in Journ. 

 As. Soc. Beng. xxi (1852}, 174. Asclepias geminata, Roscb.; Fl. Ind. ii t 

 45. Vern- Gurmar (Bundelkhand). 



A large more or less pubescent climbing shrub ; young stems and branches 

 terete, pubescent. Leaves subcoriaceous, 1-2^ in. long, elliptic or 

 ovate, acute or shortly acuminate, cuneate rounded or cordate at the 

 base, often glabrous above, mere or less pubescent beneath, especially 

 on the veins ; petioles in. long. Flowers yellow, in umbellate 



