50 ASCLEPIADACE^. [ HOLOSTEMMA. 



Found at Garah in the Pilibhit district of Rohilkhand by Duthie's 

 collector. Flowers in May. DISTRIB. N. Kamrup in Lower Assam 

 (Hamilton and G. Mann). Sir Joseph Hooker, by whom the genus was 

 founded, regards it as being most nearly related to Holostemma. 



6. HOLOSTEMMA, R. Br. PI. Brit. Ind. iv, 21. 



Twining glabrous shrubs. Leaves opposite, cordate. Flowers 

 large, fragrant, purple within, arranged in lax sublateral peduncled 

 cymes. Calyx 5-partite, without glands inside, lobes ovate. Corolla 

 subrotate, deeply 5 -fid. ; lobes thick, ovate, overlapping to the 

 right. Corona a fleshy truncate ring, adnate to tne base of the 

 10-winged staminal column. Filaments connate, anther-wings 

 large, decurrcnt to the base of the column ; pollen-masses solitary in 

 each cell, elongate, compressed, waxy, pendulous by a long caudicle. 

 Follicles slender, cylindric, somewhat tapering. /Seeds comcse. 

 Species 2, one in India, the other Chinese, 



H. Rheedianum, Spreng. Syst. i, 851 ; Coofce Fl. Bomb. ii t 156. H. 

 Rheedei, Wall. ; F. B. I. iv, 21 ; Watt E.D. Collett Fl. Siml. 316 ; Prain 

 Beng. PI. 690. H. Brunonianum, Royle III. 276, t. 66. Asclepias 

 annularis, Roxb. Fl. Ind. ii, 37. Vern, Rani Manvi (Dehra Dun), 



A large much-branched almost glabrous twining shrub. Stems glabrous, 

 shining. Leaves 3-5 by 2-3 in., ovate, acute or acuminate, deeply 

 cordate with rounded basal lobes, glabrous above, finely pubescent 

 beneath especially on the nerves; midrib minutely glandular at its 

 base ; nerves reticulate, red ; petioles ^-2 in. long. Flowers in 

 umbellate or subracemose cymes, subglobc se, red(iih purple inside, 

 white or pinkish outside ; peduncles and pedicels 1-2 in. long. Calyx- 

 lobes ^ in. long Corolla-lobes | in. long, ovate, oblong, obtuse. Follicles 

 4-5 in. long, oblong, tapering^to a blunt point. Seeds in. long, thin, 

 flattened, coma f-1 in. long. 



Dehra Dun and Siwalik Range, also in the Bahraich district of N. Oudh. 

 Flowers in July and Aug. DISTRIB. Himalaya up to 5,000 ft. 

 westwards to Simla and eastwards to Sikkim, Bombay, S. India, Ceylon 

 and Burma, also in China. 



7. OXYSTELMA, R. Br. Fl. Brit. Ind. iv, 17. 



Twining glabrous herbs or undershrubs. Leaves narrow 

 opposite. Flowers large, in las. racemose or umbeUiform cymes, or 

 solitary, pedicels filiform. Calyx small, 5-partite, glandular within, 

 lobes acute. Corolla, broadly saucer-shaped. Corolla-tube very 

 short, with a ring of hairs within the mouth ; liinb divided 



