176 XXXVI. AMPELIDEiE [Vitis 



separates from the base and falls away. Ovary 2-celled, its base surrounded 

 by the fleshy often 4-5-lobed disk. Fr. 1-4-seeded. Species about 400, 

 cosmopolitan. 



Planchon in DC. Monogr. Ph.au., vol. 5, divides Vitis into a number of genera ; the 

 species here noticed belong to the following : 1. Vitis, petals 5, united at apex. : 2. 

 Ampelocissus, petals 4, mostly 5, free. 3. Cissus, petals 4, style long. 4. Tetrastigma, 

 petals 4, stigma nearly sessile, 4-lobed, inflorescence axillary. PI. unisexual. _1 ^ 



The wood, as a rule, is not interrupted by concentric rings of bast (phloem). The 

 rays are high and very broad, widening towards the circumference, the vessels are ex- 

 tremely wide (sometimes over OS mm. diam.) mixed w r ith smaller vessels. The flat- 

 stemmed species have a peculiar structure. On two opposite sides of a central cylinder 

 numerous alternating zones are formed, each consisting of wood inside and bast 

 (phloem) outside. 



A. L. simple. El. bisexual, as a rule tetramerous. Cymes arranged in 

 corymbs, often umbellate. 



1. V. adnata, Wall. ; Brandis E. El. 100. — Syn. Cissus adnata, Roxb. ; 

 Wight Ic. t. 144. 



Trailing, young shoots more or less rusty-tomentose. L. cordate, rarely 

 lobed, often longer than broad, bristle-serrate, more or less tomentose beneath, 

 blade 3-4i, petiole 1-2 1 - in., stipules more or less adnate, consisting of a 

 round shining centre, surrounded by a free scarious margin. Cymes short, 

 compact, opposite to fully developed leaves, fl. greenish yellow. Er. black, 

 obovoid, £ in. long, seed one. Fruiting pedicels recurved. 



Oudh forests, Sikkim Terai, ascending to 3,000 ft., Assam, Khasi hills, Lower Bengal, 

 Burma. West side of the Peninsula. Fl. February, while the plant is in full leaf. Ceylon, 

 Malay Peninsula and Archipelago, Madagascar, New Guinea. 2. V. repanda, W. et A., 

 Pani lara, Nep. Subhimalayan tract from Dehra Diin eastward, Assam, Bengal, 

 Upper Burma, in Engdain and dry deciduous forest (Hleza, Burm.), Western Penin- 

 sula. A very large deciduous climber with corky bark, branches woolly when young 

 L. as broad as long, stipules oblong, free, cymes lax, appearing in May with the young 

 leaves or before the leaves, fruiting pedicels rarely reflexed. V. rosea, Poyle 111. t. 26, 

 fig. 1, with large leaves and pink flowers, is quoted as a synonym of C. repanda 

 in Fl. Brit. Ind. i. 648. Species 1 and 2 are closely allied. 3. V. tomentosa, Heyne ; 

 Wight 111. t. 57. Western Deccan from Dharwar southwards, the whole plant 

 covered with a thick woolly persistent tomentum, 1. more or less deeply lobed, lobes 

 sometimes petiolate. Cymes compact on stout peduncles. Fl. pentamerous, scarlet, 

 conspicuous in the white woolly tomentum. 4. V. pallida, W. et A., Kondayu mar a, 

 Kan. Western Peninsula, chiefly in the Deccan. Au erect shrub, bark corky, stem 

 thick, fleshy, hollow. L. cordate, repand serrate, blade 3-6, petiole 2-8 in., tendrils 

 short or wanting, peduncle 1-2 in. thick, fleshy. Cyme compact, bracts and bracteoles 

 large glabrous. Nearly allied is 5. V. Woodrowii, Stapf, common in the Deccan (Grirnal, 

 Mar.) Stems woody, attaining 3 in. diam., structure peculiar. L. larger, uj> to 9 in., 

 petiole 6-10 in. long. 6. V. glauca, W. et A. Western Peninsula, distinguished by 

 slender peduncles 2-3 in. long, bracts and bracteoles small, deciduous. 



7. V. Linnaei, Wall. ; El. Brit. Ind. i. 649, not of Kurz.— Syn. Cissus 

 vitigenea, Linn. ; King Journ. As. Soc. vol. 65 (1896) p. 110. 



A climbing shrub in hedges, and ascending to the top of large trees, the whole, 

 plant softly and densely pubescent. L. variable in shape, from round, 

 pentagonal to deeply 5-lobed, blade 2, petiole i-1 in. Cymes bifurcate, 

 as long as leaves. Fr. obovoid, ^-J- in. long, fruiting pedicels recurved, seed 

 one. 



Central Provinces. Western Peninsula. Fl. June-Sept. Ceylon. 



8. V. discolor, Dalz. Yern. Sanu pureni, Nep. ; Telit saijei, Mar. 



L. green above, variegated withwbite and purple beneath, glabrous, ovate- 

 lanceolate, base cordate, bristly serrate, blade 3-8, petiole i-3 in. Cymes 

 short, peduncle \-\ in. Calyx purple, corolla yellow, seed one, rugose. 



Sikkim 1-4,000 ft., Khasi hills, Manipur, Chittagong, Upper and Lower Burma, 

 Andamans. West side of the Peninsula from the Konkan southwards. Fl. Aug., Sept. 

 Malay Peninsula and Archipelago. 



