120 COXVOLVULACE^. [RiviA. 



Often met with within the area, especially in the forest tracts of 

 Mervvara and Bundelkhand. Flowers during the rainy season. 

 DISTBIB. Plains of Punjab, Bajputana and Sind to the Deccan, and 

 from A.ssam and Bengal to S. India. The pure-white clove-scented 

 flowers open at sunset and close and wither the next morning. The 

 leaves and young shoots are eaten as a vegetable. 



2. R. ornata, Chois. Convol. Or. 409; Royle 111.307 (not of F. B. I.)/ 

 Gamble Man. Ind. Timb. 506 ; Prain Beng. PI. 739. R. ornata, var* 

 Oriffithii. Clarke in F. B.~ I. iv, 183. Lettsomia ornata, Roxb. Fl. 

 Ind. i, 496. Argyreia ornata, Sweet ; Brandis For. Fl. 343, 



large spreading shrub. Stems subherbaceous, hardly ever twining. 

 Leaves 3-6 in. long, usually broader than long, orbicular or reniform, 

 obtuse, somewhat emarginate and often apiculate at the apex, 

 rather silky beneath, lobes rounded ; petioles shorter than 

 the leaves, with a greenish gland on either side of the apex. 

 Peduncles as long as the petioles, usually 7-flowered, bracts lanceolate. 

 Flowers white, fragrant. Sepals about fin. long, ovate-lanceolate, acute, 

 thick, silky-hairy outside, persistent. Corolla-tube 2-3 in. long, limb 

 about 2-2j in. in diam. Berry oblong, pointed, 1-celled. Seeds usually 

 solitary. 



Dehra Dun and Siwalik Range. Flowers during the rainy season. 

 DISTRIB. Eastwards to N. Bengal and the Sikkim Terai. The 

 flowers open at sunset and wither on the following morning. The 

 so called R. ornata of S. India is a separate species. A more correct 

 name for this plant of N. India would be R. Roxburghii, Prain. (See 

 Prain in Nov. Ind. viii, 89. 



14. ARGYREIA, Lour. ; Fl. Brit. Ind. iv, 184. 



Climbing, rarely suberect shrubs. Leaves ovate-cordate to narrow - 

 lanceolate, pubescent or silky beneath. Flowers showy, purplo or 

 rose, rarely white, usually in many-flowered cymes, often capitate, 

 bracts usually conspicuous. Sepals herbaceous, leathery, slightly 

 enlarged in fruit, often red within. Corolla funnel-shaped; limb 

 plicate, more or less hairy outside, shortly lobed. Stamens included ; 

 anthers obloug, straight. Disk annular. Ovary 4-celled, 4-ovuled, 

 style filiform ; stigmas 2, globose. Fruit a dry hard berry. 

 Seeds 4 or fewer, embedded in mealy pulp. Species about 30, in 

 Trop. Asia and Africa. 



Of the 25 species described in the Fl. Brit. Ind. mone are indigenous 

 within the area of this flora. One, however, deserves mention, viz. 



' A. speciosa, Sweet (Lettsomia nervosa, Roxb.), from its abundance in 

 Dehra Dun as a naturalized escape. It is a large woody climber. 

 Stems stout and densely clothed with white tomentum. Leaves 4-12 



