CEYPTOLEPIS. ] ASCLEPIADAOE^E. 45 



inflexed membranous tips, pollen-masses cohering in pairs in each 

 cell, granular, appendages of the corpuscles dilated or hooded. 

 Stigma 5 -angled, with a flat crown. Follicles divaricate, slender, 

 terete, smooth. Seeds comose. A. single species, restricted to India. 



H. indicus, E. fir. in Mem. Wern. 8oc. t. 57; F. B. I. iv, 5; Eoyle 

 III. 274 ; Watt E. D. ; Prain Beng. PI. 686 ; Cooke pi. Bomb. , 146 

 Asclepias pseudosarsa, Roxb. ; Fl. Ind. t ii, 89 (esccl. syn.}. 



A twining or prostrate shrub. Leaves 2-4 in. long, elliptic-oblong to 

 linear-lanceolate, obtuse or acute, apioulate, usually glabrous, dark- 

 green or mottled with white above, pale or silvery white and sometimes 

 pubescent beneath, midrib stout, veins reticulate, petiole J in. long. 

 Pedicels short, clothed with many ovate acute imbricating bracts 

 Calyx -jL in. long, glabrous outside ; lobes ovate, acute, margins ciliate. 

 Corolla - in. long, greenish outside, purple within ; tube very short ; 

 lobes fleshy, ovate -oblong, acuminate, valvate. Follicles 4-6 in. long. 

 Seeds - in., flattened, black ; coma 1 in. long, pure white. 



Forests of N. Oudh and Gorakhpur, also in Bundelkhand, Flowers 

 during the greater part of the year. DISTRIB. Eastwards to Bengal 

 and the Sundribans, and from the Central Provinces to S. India and 

 Ceylon. In S. India the root of this plant is used as a substitute 

 for sarsaparilla ; and in many parts of India it is prescribed by native 

 doctors, either aloue or in conjunction with other drugs, in the treat- 

 ment of various ailments. 



2. CRYPTOLEPIS, K. Br., PL Brit. Ind. iv, 5. 



Glabrous and usually twining shrubs. Leaves opposite. Flowers 

 son all and in lax slender dichotomous few-flowered terminal or axillary 

 cymes. Calyx deeply 5-fid., with five scales within. Corolla-tube 

 short, cylindric or bell-shaped ; lobes linear, overlapping and twisted 

 to the right in bud. Corona-scales free, adnate to the middle of the 

 corolla-tube, linear or cl&vate, conniving. Stamens attached towards 

 the base of the corolla-tube, filaments subconnate by their broad bases ; 

 anthers shortt adhering to the stigma by their bases ; tips acuminate, 

 conniving ; pollen-masses cohering in pairs in each cell, granular 

 appendages of corpuscles oblong. Stigma broadly conic. Follicles 

 2, divaricate, terete, smooth. Seeds comose. Species about 20, in 

 tropical Asia and Africa. 



C. Buchanan!, R. and S. 8yst. iv, 409 ; Falc. in Trans. Linn. Soc. xix, 

 55, t. 5; Brandis For. Fl. 330; F. B. I. iv, 5; Watt E. D. ; Kanjilal For. 

 Fl.239; Gamble Man. Ind. Timb.490; Collett Fl. 8iml. 315 ; Prain Beng . 

 PI. 685; CookeFl. Bomb. ii t 147 ; C. reticulata, Wall.; Royle III. 270. 

 Nerium, reticulatum, Roxb. ; Fl. Ind. ii,*S. Vern. Karanta, medka-singki 

 (DehraDun). 



