MENISPERMACE^S. 



cordate, 5- to 7-lobed, the lobes entire, often deflexed, wavy on the 

 surface and margin, dark green above, paler beneath ; hairy on both 

 sides ; the nerves according to the number of lobes, are 3, 7, or 9, pale, 

 connected by veins which, in themselves, are reticulated, prominent 

 beneath. Petiole about, as long as the leaf, rounded, glanduloso-pilose, 

 thickened below. $ plant. Racemes axillary, solitary, or 2 together, 

 drooping, compound, covered with glandular hairs. Sepals glabrous. 

 $ . Racemes axillary, solitary, simple, spreading, shorter than those of 

 the male. Fruit drupaceous or berried, about the size of a hazel nut, 

 densely clothed with long spreading hairs, tipped with a black oblong 

 gland. Soyer. The root is a valuable and excellent tonic, having 

 aromatic qualities, but mucilaginous and not acting as a stimulant. It 

 has the power of checking sympathetic vomiting, in female pregnancy, 

 the dentition of children, diseases of the kidneys, &c. It is also used 

 with advantage in the latter stages of dysentery, in habitual diarrhoea, 

 and in a languid state of the stomach. Mr. Pereira says it is of all 

 tonics the least likely to disagree with the stomach. The infusion 

 is the form in which it is usually exhibited, but it must be kept fresh, as 

 it rapidly undergoes decomposition. 



PEREIRIA. 



Dioecious. 5 . Outer sepals 3, very short and scale-like, but 

 permanent; the 3 inner much longer. Sterile stamens 6, of 

 which 3 surround the base of the ovaries. Styles slender, re- 

 curved. Drupes 3 to each flower, succulent, placed in a round- 

 headed receptacle which is elevated on a long stout peduncle. 

 Albumen 2-celled. Embryo inverted, with very thin foliaceous 

 cotyledons, which are wide apart from each other and pierced 

 with numerous small holes. A climbing plant, with the habit 

 of Menispermum. Flowers in small globular heads. Peduncles 

 of the flowers short, but lengthened and thickened very much 

 for the fruit. Drupes villous. 



767. P. medica. Menispermum fenestratum Gcertn. fr. 

 i. 219. t. 46. f. 1. DC. syst. i. 451. Roxb. Fl. Ind. iii. 809. 

 Ceylon. (Woniwol, Venivel, or Bangwellgetta. Ceyl.) 



Trunk and large branches scandent, stout, thick, and ligneous. The 

 wood of a deep, lively yellow colour, and of a pleasant bitter taste. Leaves 

 alternate, petioled, cordate, entire, 5- or 7-nerved, smooth and shining 

 above, very hoary underneath, sometimes acuminate, sometimes obtuse ; 

 generally from 3 to 9 inches long, and from 2 to 6 broad. In young 

 plants frequently peltate. Petioles shorter than the leaves, round, 

 downy. Female umbellets, or heads, from the stout, naked, ligneous 

 branches, several from the same bud, on thick, round, downy peduncles, 

 of about an inch in length. Flowers numerous, sub-sessile, villous, of 

 an obscure green. Bracts of the umbellets obscure; those of the 

 flowers 3 or 4, reniform, villous, pressing close on the calyx. Calyx 

 6-leaved ; the 3 exterior sepals oval, small, very downy on the outside, 

 permanent ; the 3 interior ones considerably longer. Petals 6, small, 

 short, sterile filaments, 3 embracing the base of the ovaries, very downy. 

 Styles slender, recurved. Berries, from 1 to 3 come to maturity, 



370 



