386 Flora of the Malayan Peninsula. 
Articles 2 mm. broad; flowers very minute, in 
few fascicles; berry 2°5 mm. in diam. .. 6 V. flexuosum. 
1. Viscum monotcum, Roxb. FI. Ind. IT. 763 (1832). A para- 
sitic shrub with numerous dichotomous or opposite branches ; 
branchlets terete, slender, slightly thickened at the nodes, furrowed 
when dry. Leaves opposite, thinly coriaceous; ovate or lanceolate, 
often falcate, more or less acuminate at apex, attenuate at base; 
both surfaces glabrous, nearly black when dry; 3-—5 em. long, 1—2 
cm. broad; 3—5-ribbed, the outer ribs slightly pedate; nerves few, 
reticulate; petiole none or verysbort. Flowers moneecious, in axillary 
sessile or very shortly ({ mm.) peduncled clusters of 1—3, supported 
by two ovate acuminate bracteoles combined in a shallow cup, the 
outer flowers of triads 9 the central one Sor wanting; perianth 4- 
lobed, the lobes ovate—acute, those of the # bearing the sessile 
anthers. Ovary oblong; style 0; stigma very short, conical. Fruit 
an oblong, smooth yellowish berry, truncate at apex. DC. Prodr. 
IV. 278; Brandis For. Fl. 393 and Ind. Trees 552; Wt. & Arn. Prodr. 
379 (in note under V. orientale); Griff. Notul. IV. 637 and Ic. PI. 
Asiat. t. 631; Kurz For. Fl. II. 324; Hook. f. Fl. Br. Ind. V. 224. 
Cooke Fl. Bomb. II. 552; Trimen Fl. Ceyl. III. 471; Prain Beng. 
Plants 912. V. falcatum, Wall. Cat. 492; DC. lc. V. confertum, Roxb. 
lic. fide Wt. & Arn. V. bengalense, Roxb. Ill. in Herb. Kew. t. 1181. 
StaMESE States: Kasoom, Curtis 3265!.—Duistris. India, 
Burma, Ceylon. 
2. VISCUM ORIENTALE, Willd. Sp. Pl. [V. 737 (1805). A parasitic 
shrub with numerous dichotomous or opposite branches; branchlets 
terete or angular and grooved, glabrous, the ultimate ones often very 
slender; nodes thickened. Leaves opposite, fleshy-coriaceous; obovate 
or elliptic-oblong or -lanceolate or linear-oblong, obtuse at apex, attenu- 
ately narrowed at base; both surfaces glabrous, black or brown when 
dry, 2—7 cm. long, 1—2°5 cm. broad; 3—5-ribbed, the outside ribs 
slightly pedate, often very short, and often looped above; nerves few, 
irregular, transverse ; reticulation obscure; petiole none or very short. 
Flowers moneecious, in axillary, sessile or peduncled, clusters of 1—3, 
supported by two ovate bracts which are combined in a boat-shaped 
involucre; when in threes the central flower usually 2? , the outer ones 
much smaller and 3 , sometimes all ¢ or reduced to only one 2 ; perianth 
4-lobed, the lobes triangular, 1—5 mm. long ing, 1 mm. in? ,ing 
flowers one pair slightly larger than the other. Anthers 4, sessile by 
their connectives, often one pair larger than the other and more obtuse, 
