12 MENISPEEMACE^. {MenispermoceeB. 



Anthers adnate- Styles 2-cleft, subulate. Flowers in dichotomous 



eymes ... 3- Peeioampylus. 



Sepals and petals various. Carpel solitary. Flowers unisexual. 



Sepals free. Flowers in umbels or heads 4. Stephania. 



Sepals united. Flowers in panicles or racemes »• Ctciea. 



1. LIMACIA, Lour, 



Sepals 6, in 2 series, the outer ones smaller. Petals 6, much smaller than 

 the inner sepals, embracing the stamens with auricles at their base. Male 

 flowers : Stamens 3, 6, or 9, the filaments free. Anthers adnate, opening 

 with longitudinal slits. Eemale flowers : Sterile stamens 6, club-shaped. Car- 

 pels 3. Styles short, flattened. Drupes obovate or reniform, the scar of the 

 style very near the base, the putamen scarcely tuberculate. Seed much curved. 

 Embryo elongated in the centre of the albumen, with semicylindrical cotyle- 

 dons. 



A small genus, limited to tropical Asia. 



1. L. cuspidata, EooJc. and Thorns. M. Ind. i. 189. A tall climber, nearly 

 glabrous, or the young shoots pubescent. Leaves from ovate to oblong or 

 lanceolate, acute at both ends, 2 to 3 inches long, or larger in the barren shoots, 

 3-nerved. Male panicles scarcely longer than the leaf-stalks. Female flowers 

 few or solitary. Stamens 6 to 9. Drupes nearly globular, slightly flattened, 

 about 6 lines diameter. — Hypserpa nitida, Miers, in Kew Joum. Bot. iii. 258. 



In a ravine of Mount Victoria, Champion, also Wright. In eastern and northern India, 

 from Ceylon to the Malayan Peninsula, Silhet, and Khasia. 



a. COCCULUS, DC 



Sepals 6, in 3 series, the outer ones smaller. Petals 6, smaller than the 

 sepals, wedge-shaped or obovate, often embracing the stamens by auricles at 

 their base. Male flowers : Stamens 6, the filaments free. Anthers terminal, 

 globular, 4-lobed. Pemale flowers : Sterile stamens 6 or 0. Carpels 3. Styles 

 cylindrical, undivided. Drupes obovate or rounded, laterally compressed, the 

 scar of the style near the base. Putamen fragile, horseshoe-shaped, usually 

 perforated laterally. Seed much curved, with albumen. Cotyledons linear, 

 flat. — Climbers, or rarely half-erect undershrubs. Panicles axillary, elongated, 

 or reduced to few flowers, the females often solitary. 



A genus of several species, chiefly Indian, extending also into Africa and Australia, with 

 two North American species. 



Leaves rounded. Axillary or lateral panicles very long 1. C. macrocarpu^. 



Leaves ovate-oblong or 8-lobed. AxUlary panicles short 2. C ovalifi " 



1. C. macrocarpus, W. and Am. ; Hook, and Thorns. Fl. Ind. i. 191 ; 

 Wight, Illust. t. 1. A glabrous climber. Leaves rounded or renifoi-m, 5 -nerved, 

 3 to 3 in. diameter, on slender petioles, 3 to 4 in. long. Panicles pro- 

 ceeding from the old branches or sometimes axiUary, several inches, or even 

 a foot long, with numerous small flowers. Petals 3-lobed, the lateral lobes 

 (or auricles) embracing the stamens. Drupes obovate, about an inch long. 



In the Happy Valley, Hatice, Seemmn, Wriffht. In S. India, in Ceylon, the Peninsula, 

 and Chittagoug, and perhaps also in Khasia. 



