149 



6. CALOTROPIS, R. Br. 



1. C GiGANTEA, R. Br. Mem. Wern. Soc. p 28.— A tall, hoary 

 shrub ; leaves large, stem-clasping, oblong-ovate, downy beneath, 

 4 to 6 inches long ; umbels simple or compound, interpetiolar, half 

 the length of the leaves ; flowers large, of a pale-purple ; follicles 

 ovoid ventricose, green, herbaceous. Common in the Concan, not 

 in Gujarat. Lind. Bot. Reg. xvii. t. 58. The active principle 

 Mudarine is extracted from this plant, and has the property of 

 coagulating by heat, and becoming fluid again on exposure to cold. 

 Syn. Asclepias gigantea, Willd. sp. i, 1 264. An excellent altera- 

 tive, and powerful as a remedy in cutaneous diseases. 



2. C Phocera, R. Br. in Hort. Kew. ii, p 78. — A shrub like the 

 preceding, but generally smaller; leaves ovate or oval, with a 

 cordate base, and with a short and sudden acumination, 4 inches 

 long ; umbels peduncled, nearly as long as the leaves ; flowers as 

 in the preceding ; follicles obovoid, downy, as large as an egg. 

 The Deccan and Guzerat, also in Sind, Persia, Arabia, and Africa. 

 Syn. C wallichii, Wight Contr. p 63 ; C hamiltonii, Wight loc. 

 cit; C heterophylla, Wall, in Wight Contr. p 54; Wight Ic. 1278. 

 From this plant has been extracted hemp of the finest quality, 

 very strong and silky. Handkerchiefs of fine quality have been 

 made from it. 



7. SARCOSTEMMA, R. Br. 



1. S Brevistigma, W. and A. Contr. p 59. — Leafless, 

 twining ; umbels terminal, or at the apex of short lateral branchlets; 

 pedicels and calyx smooth ; divisions of corolla ovate, rather obtuse^ 

 smooth ; exterior staminal corona with 10 folds ; interior ones 

 gibbous on the back, and longer than the gynostegium ; flowers 

 white. Common in the Deccan in stony places; flowers in June. 

 Syn. Asclepias acida, Roxb. Fl Ind. ii, p 31 ; Jacq. Voy. t. 113. 



2. Intermedium, DeCaisne in DC. Prod. 8, p 538. — Twining,, 

 leafless ; branches round, glabrous ; peduncles terminal or axillary ; 

 umbels many-flowererl, sub-globose ; divisions of corolla oblong- 

 lanceolate, waved,- glabrous ; follicles linear or oblong obtuse ; flowers- 

 white, appear in the rains, 'i'hroughout the Deccan ; Isle of Perim, 

 Dr. Lush. Syn. Sarcostemma viminale, Wight Contr. p 69. 

 Used in the culture of Sugar-cane to keep off" White Ants. 

 Wight Ic. 1281. 



8. PENTATROPIS, R. Br. 



\. MiCROPHYLLA, W. and A. Contr. p 52. — A twining glabrous 

 plant ; leaves oval-mucronulate, rounded at the base, glabrous, 

 fleshy, shortly-petioled ; umbels subsessile, few-flowered ; pedicels- 



