THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY. 315 



skin of the Python. Wallich names the genus "T/ionisonia," after the 

 celebrated Dr. Anthony Todd Thomson, for a long time Professor 

 of Materia Medica in University College, London, and distin- 

 guished for his botanical tastes and for his genuine j)harmacological 

 researches in the early days of that Institution. V\ allich, however, 

 adds a note, which is well worth remembering, that the genus so 

 named after Dr. Todd Thomson should not be confounded with 

 another genus similarly named, but differently sj)elt — Thompsonia, 

 The latter genus was formed by Mr. Brown and classed as a genus 

 under the Natural Order Paasiflorece, in honor of Mr. John Vaughan 

 Thompson. 



The genus Pythoniiiiii is allied to Arum and Caladhnn^ but differs 

 from them in having its spadix entirely covered by the spathe in the 

 base of the spadix being pistilliferous. its middle part being anther- 

 bearing, audits apex verrucose; theloculiof the anthers tubiform and 

 vertically dehiscing at the apex ; styles manifest ; stigma three-lobed, 

 subvalvate. Blume in his RumYthia (Vol. I., p. 146) notes that the 

 genus Pythoniiini is intimately allied to the genus Amorphophallus, 

 from which it cannot be distinguished except by its quadriporus 

 anthers and uni-ovuled ovary, the ovary of the Amorpliophallus 

 being, bi-, tri- or quadri-locular. I may also add that the berry 

 of the Amorpliophallus is monospermous (one-seeded) or oligo- 

 spermous (with only a few seeds), whereas Pythonium is always 

 one-seeded. 



The ilower-stalks are seldom if ever allowed to remain in our 

 jungles sufficiently long to bear fruit ; long before even the stamens 

 and pistils develop, the flower-stalks are cut down by our jungle- 

 haunters as soon as they appear above the ground and sold in the 

 bazaars with a bunch of the fruits of Kakad {Garuga pinnata). 

 These stalks are used in cookery. Curries are made of it, finely 

 chopped, mixed with slices of Kfikad as an adjunct. The strongly 

 acid quality of this fruit is decidedly destructive of the acrid property 

 of the flower-stalk. The highly acid fruit of Bilimbi {Arerrhoa 

 Bilimhi) is also used in the curries of the flower-stalk for a similar 

 purpose. The Oxalate of Potassium which the Bilimbi contains has 

 no doubt the power of destroying the taste and the potency of the 

 acrid juice. Boiling also with a pinch of common salt removes 



