610 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XI. 



suture, the seeds fly about in the air, in profusion. It is quite a sight 

 to see these scattered seeds in mid-air, the expanded comse serving 

 the purpose of a parachute. Dr. MacDonald happily terms them 

 " seed- wanderers," in search of a new home. It is thus that they are 

 seen invading loose soil, dilapidated buildings, and waste places, plant- 

 ing themselves in distant places, and propagating their species at times 

 enormously. Thus it is that this plant does not require any human 

 agency to propagate its species. I do not know of a single instance 

 where this plant has had to be raised by sowing its seed. 



Albumen. — Thin, says Wight ; so says also Gregg (" Text Book of 

 Indian Botany," 1883). 



Embkyo. — Large ; straight (Wight). 



Cotyledons. — Flat (Hooker) ; foliaceous (Wight and DeCandolle). 



Radicle. — Short, inferior, says Hooker ; superior, says Wight. I 

 have had no time or opportunities to verify this. I leave this point to 

 be settled by Morphologists (K. R. K.). 



Plumule. — Inconspicuous (Wight and DeCandolle). 



GENERAL REMARKS. 



Synonyms : — 



Asdepias gigantea, — Hort. Beng. 20 ; Willd. ; Roxb. Flora Indica, 

 II, 30. 



Asdepias gigantea. — 3. Lamarck, Encyclop. Meth., I, 280. 



As regards bracts, Hamilton says tc There are scarcely any." This 

 is not accurate. They are deciduous, and have possibly escaped his 

 attention* They are seen on almost every flower and flower- stalk in 

 the fresh state. Perhaps it would be proper to say that every flower, 

 almost without exception, has its own bracteole (K.R.K.). Some 

 Botanists call it an " involucre" but it is not that structure as we 

 understand it in botanical parlance. There are various opinions express- 

 ed by able Botanists regarding the aestivation of this plant. There 

 is no doubt about the quincuncial aestivation of the calyx. But although 

 I have described the aestivation of the corolla as valvate, I feel bound to 

 state that Wight describes it as sub-valvate, meaning " The very edges 

 overlapping and therefore imbricate.'" (See Wight's Illustrations of 

 Botany, vol. II, pp. 164-169).. This observation of Wight's I feel fully 

 bound to note as inaccurate, for " imbricate" means that one petal 

 overlaps the adjacent one. This is not the case in this instance. The 



