TlnospQreee.'] flora indica. 179 



2. C. Blumeanum (Miers in Taylor's Annals, ser. 2. vii. 37) ; 

 foliis crasse coriaceis ovalibus vel oblongis peltatis acuminatis vel ob- 

 tusis basi truncatis vel subcordatis subtus niveo-tomentosis, capitulis 

 in axillis racemosis.— Cocculus Blumeauus, Wall. Cat. 4971 ! excluso 

 B partim. 



Hab. Malaya: ad Penang et Singapur, Wall.! 



Frutex alte scandens. Caules dense lanato-tomentosi, infra lanam fusci, striati. 

 Folia 7-12 poll, longa, 3-6 lata, petiolo 3-5-pollicari, supra atro-viridia, glabra, 

 lucida. Eaoemi fulvo-tomentosi, validi, 3-4 poll, lougi, pedunculis capitulorum fere 

 pollicaribus. Mores masculi ut ia C.fenestrato. 



This species, so far as can be ascertained from the small number of specimeus 

 which we have seen, seems very distinct from C.fenestratum, in the much more 

 rigid and more elongated leaves, which are always peltate, whereas those of C.fenes- 

 trat-um are only so in young plants. In young plants of the Ceylon species, how- 

 ever, the leaves are elongated like those of C. Blumeanum. The character derived 

 from the inflorescence is perhaps not constant. 



Tribus II. TiNospouEiE. 



Sepala 6. Pelala 6, sepalis minora, rariiis 0. Ovaria 3. Brupa 

 styli cicatrice subterminali vel fere basilari notatse. Putamen antice 

 planum vel excavatum vel processu interno munitum. Semen ampbi- 

 tropum, rarius anatropum, albuminosum. Embryo axilis. Radicula 

 supera, styli cicatricem spectans. Cotyledones lateraliter divaricatse, 

 tenues. 



The genera which are associated in this tribe by means of the character of the 

 laterally divaricating cotyledons, form a very natural group ; and, though they differ 

 from one another a good deal in the shape and structure of the putamen and seed, 

 yet in these respects also a regular gradation may be traced from one genus to 

 another, and they ai'e all nearer to one another than to the other tribes of the Order. 

 The style is, in many of the genera, almost terminal, even in the ripe fruit, but in 

 Anamirta it is nearly basal. The peculiar obliquity of the cotyledons, which sepa- 

 rate like the blades of a pair of scissors (sometimes overlapping a little at the edges 

 only), make the seed much broader than in the following tribes, in which it is always 

 nearly cylindrical. In Aspidocarya the seed is quite flat, but more frequently it is 

 curved forwards round the internal process of the putamen, when it becomes ovoid 

 or globose, and excavated anteriorly. The ruminated albumen of Tinospora is pecu- 

 liar, but is not an indication of immediate aflJnity, as it is absent in those genera 

 nearest allied to Tinospora, and present in Tiliacora, which has no near relationship 

 with it. 



There is in the Hookerian Herbarium a specimen of a Menispermaceous plant in 

 fruit, which probably belongs to this tribe, bnt which is too imperfect to admit of 

 proper description. It was collected in Assam by Griffith. The drupe is more than 

 an inch long, much compressed, with a fleshy exocarp and a thin bony putamen, very 

 slightly rugose externally, and with a broad, shallow, longitudinal furrow on the ven- 

 tral face. On the inner surface of the same face, there is a groove extending from 

 the base to near the apex, from which the seed is pendulous. The seed is marked 

 by a distinct rhaphe, running from the hUum to the opposite extremity ; it is quite 

 flat, but, from the decayed state of the specimen, the presence of albumen and the 

 structure of the embi-yo cannot be determined. If the cotyledons be laterally diva- 

 ricated, this fruit wiU come near Aspidocarya, agreeing with it in the absence of 

 any internal process of the putamen, and in the anatropous seed, but diffcriug in the 

 shape of the putamen. 



