11 



N. Ord. MENISPEEMACE^J. Lindl., Veg. K., p. 307 ; Baill., Hist. 



PI., iii; Le Maout & Dec., p. 199. 

 Tribe Pachygonece. 



Genus Chondrodendron, Ruiz & Pavon.* Miers, Contrib. to 

 Bot., iii, p. 307 ; B. & H., Gen. i, pp. 38 (Botryopsis) & 963 ; 

 Baill., 1. c., p. 35. Miers describes eight species, all from 

 tropical America, and some probably varieties of that 

 described below. 



11. Chondrodendron tomentosum, Ruiz fy Pavon, Prod. Fl. 

 Peruv.,p. 132 (1794). 



Parreira brava (Old Portuguese). Butua or Abutua (Brazilian). 



Syn. Cissampelos Abutua, Vellozo. Cocculus ? platyphyllus, A. de St. 

 Hil. Cocculus Chondodendron, DC. Botryopsis platyphylla, Miers 

 and others. 



Figures. Yellozo, Fl. Fluminensis, x, t. 140 ? ; St. Hilaire, PI. Usuelles 

 des Bresil., t. 42 (leaves only) ; Eichler, in Fl. Brasil., fasc. 38, t. 48 ; 

 D. Hanbury, in Pharm. Journ., 1873, pp. 83, 102 (root and fruit). 



Description. A woody climber of considerable size, the stem 

 reaching over 4 inches in diameter ; bark rough, on the smaller 

 branches closely covered with slightly elevated, elongated promi- 

 nences. Leaves alternate, on very long petioles which are swollen 

 at the ends, and inserted just within the margin of the blade ; 

 broadly ovate, with a more or less cordate base, and a blunt or 

 pointed apex, entire, about 5 inches long (in our specimens said to 

 reach 12 inches), rather thick and coriaceous, smooth and green 

 above, densely covered beneath with a fine, short, greyish tomen- 

 tum, 5-nerved at the base, but the midrib much the most deve- 

 loped ; veins prominent beneath. Flowers unisexual (dioecious ?), 

 very small, laxly arranged in elongated panicles springing from 



* Name from xovdpof, a granule, and fevtipov, a tree, from the warty protu- 

 berances on the bark. Ruiz and Pavon (accidentally ?) spell the name Chon- 

 dodendron, though giving this derivation. We have followed Miers in restoring 

 what appears to be the correct spelling. The late D. Hanbury preferred to 

 keep to that generally given (see Pharm. Journ., 1874, p. 421). 



