12 TINOSPORA CORDIFOLIA 



stamens reduced to small oblong scales in front of the petals ; 

 carpels 3, distinct, opposite the outer sepals, elevated on a thick 

 gynophore, ovary oblong-ovoid, smooth, style short, thick, stigma 

 dilated, tongue-shaped, laciniate. Fruit of 3 (or more usually 

 less by abortion) shortly stalked, subglobose drupes, with an 

 apiculus on one side marking the position of the style, about as 

 large as a pea, red, pulp scanty, putamen thin, bony, convex 

 outside, with a deep, large, hollow process extending to the middle 

 of the fruit on the ventral surface, making the cavity horse-shoe- 

 shaped. Seed similar in form to the cavity which it fills, embryo 

 enclosed in the copious endosperm which is ruminated on the 

 hollow, ventral surface, radicle rounded, superior, cotyledons leafy, 

 ovate, veined, very divaricate. 



Habitat. This species is found throughout the Indian Peninsula 

 and extends into Ceylon, Burmah, and Assam. It is said to climb 

 over the highest trees, and to throw out aerial roots which reach 

 the length of 30 feet, though not thicker than pack-thread. 



Miers, Contrib. Bot., iii, p. 31 ; Fl. Brit. Ind., i, p. 97. 



Official Parts and Names. TINOSPOEJE RADIX ET CAULES; the 

 root and stems, collected during the hot season, when the bitter 

 principle is most abundant and concentrated (I. P.). It is not 

 official in the British Pharmacopoeia, or the Pharmacopoeia of the 

 United States. 



General Characters and Composition. As met with in the 

 bazaars of India, where it is known under its Hindustani name of 

 Gulancha, it consists of the dried transverse slices of the cylindrical 

 woody stems. These pieces vary in length from about J an inch 

 to 2 inches, and in diameter from J of an inch to 2 inches, 

 averaging about J an inch. They present a more or less shrunken 

 appearance, especially those that have been obtained from the 

 younger stems; and are covered with a smooth, translucent, 

 shrivelled bark, which becomes rough, and of a dull appearance 

 with age. In many cases the pieces are marked externally with 

 warty protuberances, and the scars of adventitious roots. The 

 surfaces of the pieces exhibit a radiated appearance, being marked 



