178 FLOBA INDICA. [Mettispermaoea . 



Mr. Miers is inclined to think that Gtertner is mistaken in representing the coty- 

 ledons as perforated with holes, and that they are rather lacerated at the margins. 

 They Ue very near the surface of the alhumen, and are not flat, hnt are irregularly 

 folded over undulating tubercles, produced by the ruminating plates which project 

 from the condyle, and are so thin as to be with difficulty detached from the albumen 

 without injury. This may have led Gairtner into error ; but the point is stiU doubt- 

 ful, Mr. Miers' materials, like our own, having been very scanty. 



The nuts of Coscinium which we have seen were all deprived of the sarcocarp, so 

 that the position of the style and the insertion of the fruit could not be determined. 



The species of Coscinium are entirely Indian. The wood, which has a deep yellow 

 colour, affords an indifferent yeUow dye, and is esteemed as a drug by the natives of 

 Ceylon, but does not appear to be active in its qualities. A few years ago it was 

 imported into England in some quantity, on the supposition that it would answer 

 as a substitute for the Calumba root [Jateorhiza palmata, Miers), but the specula- 

 tion was unsuccessful. 



The wood of Coscinium may be thus described ; — A several years old portion of 

 stem is rather cellular and spongy, funrowed externally, and -^ inch in diameter. 

 Filh broad, half diameter of stem, central part of large, loose, hexagonal tissue, to- 

 wards the exterior gradually becoming smaller, longer and denser, and finally passing 

 into a woody tissue of vertically elongated cells, with truncated apices. Wood-wedges 

 small, very numerous, 40-70, closely placed, of dotted pleurenchyma, and large hexa- 

 gonal scalariform vessels, and occasionally spiral vessels towards the pith. Liber- 

 bundles very much radially elongated, annually increasing, and with obscure traces of 

 annual rings distant from one another. Barh tolerably thick, of small cellular tissues, 

 with a continuous very narrow zone of slender liber-tubes a short way from the cir- 

 cumference. 



1. C. fenestratum (Colebrooke iu Linn. Tr. xiii. 65) ; foliis fere 

 rotundatis basi cordatis vel subtruncatis siibtus flavido-tomenlosis, pe- 

 tiolis (nisi in planlis junioribus) vix peltatis, oapitulis inaxillis urabel- 

 latis. — Mliers in Hook. Bot. Mag. t. 4658, et in Pharm. Journ. xii. 185. 

 — C. Wallichianum et C. Wightianum, Miers in Taylor's Annals, ser. 2. 

 vii. 37. Menispermum fenestratum, Qmrin. Fr. i. 319. t. 46./. 5 ; BO. 

 Syst. i. 541, Prod. i. 103 ; Roxb. II. Ind. iii. 809. Cocculus Blumea- 

 nits. Wall. Cat. 4971 partim ! Pereiria medica, Lindl. VI. Med. p. 370. 



Hab. In Zeylania ! in Peninsula (loco non indioato), Wight! Pe- 

 nang? Wall.! — (».«.) 



Fruiex alte scandens. Hamuli juniores dense incano-tomentosi, crassiores glabri- 

 useuli, eleganter striatuli. Folia ampla, basi subcordata, 7-9-nervia, coriacea, supra 

 glabra, subtus incana, venulis crebris reticulata, 5-7 poll, longa et fere scqnilata, ju- 

 niora oblongo-deltoidea, acuminata, peltata. Peiioli 3-B-pollicares, incani, basi torti 

 et dilatati. Capitula florum pedicello pollicari suffulta, diametro J-f-poUicaria, in 

 axillis vel ad axillas foliorum delapsorum fasciculata. Flores subsessiles, virides, fulvo- 

 tomentosi. Petala rotundata, acuta, iutas glabra et nervosa, patentia. Stamina 

 sterilia nervosa. Drupes 1-3, calyce petalisque persistentibus stipatse, subglobosie, 

 viUosa;, diametro fere pollicares. 



The specimen of C. Blumeanum from Singapur, in the Wallichiau Herbarium at 

 the Linnean Society, contains a fragment apparently of this species, without flower, 

 which Mr. Miers has called C. Wallicliianum. Mr. Miers has also distinguished 

 C. Wightianum as a species, without assigning any characters. Dr. "Wight's spe- 

 cimens exhibit only nnexpanded flowers, but they seem identical with the Ceylon 

 plant. There is evidently some confusion in Itfr. Miers' remarks, as C. Wiglitianum 

 is not included among Dr. Wallich's 4971, not having been eommunicated by Dr. 

 Wight to Dr. Wallich, but distributed separately by him under the name of Coscinium 

 fefiestratum. 



