ASCLEPIADE^E 



229 



Asclepias obtusifolia, Michx. 



Hypocotyl erect, terete, glabrous, 2'5-4'5 cm. long, light green 

 tinged with red. 



Cotyledons broadly oblong, obtuse, entire, petiolate, glabrous, 

 green, pinnatinerved as in the leaves. 



Stem erect, terete, herbaceous, covered with minute hairs ; 1st 

 internode 1-1-2 cm. long. 



First leaves simple, entire, cauline, opposite, oblong, obtuse, 

 shortly petiolate or subsessile, exstipulate, covered with minute 

 hairs, light green, pinnatinerved. 



Sarcostemma brevistigma, Wight et Ai*n. (fig. 519). 



Hypocotyl erect, thickening upwards, glabrous or with a 

 few scattered hairs, glaucous-green and dotted all over with very 

 minute colourless markings, 2-2'5 cm. 

 long. 



Cotyledons oblong-ovate, obtuse, entire, 

 subfleshy, glabrous, deep shining green 

 above, paler beneath, with an indistinct 

 midrib, sessile, 5-5*5 mm. long, 2'5-2'75 

 mm. wide, caducous. 



Stem erect in the seedling stage, terete, 

 slightly downy, glaucous-green, dotted with 

 minute colourless markings, ultimately 

 shrubby, scandent or procumbent ; 1st in- 

 ternode 1-3-2 cm. long ; 2nd 1-2-1 '7 cm. 



Leaves simple, entire, cauline, opposite, 

 decussate, exstipulate, sessile, all reduced to 

 ovate or subulate, acuminate scales so 

 small as to give the stems a leafless ap- 

 pearance. 



Nos. 1 and 2. Ovate, minute, with an 

 acute or acuminate, slender tip, pale green, 

 slightly downy with a brown tip. 



FIG. 519. Sarcostemma 

 brevistigma. Nat. size. 



Stephanotis floribunda, A. Brongn. 



Fruit very thick, fleshy, oblong, obtuse, many -seeded, consisting 

 of one to two follicles. 



Seed much compressed dorso-ventrally, flat, winged, comose, 

 oblong-obovate, retuse at the base where the coma is attached, this 

 consists of exceedingly numerous, long, white, silky hairs ; hilum 

 minute on the base of the ventral aspect ; raphe ventral and passing 



