182 FLORA INDICA. [Menispermacex . 



Frutex scandens, Hamuli sulcati, glabriusculi vel moUiter pubescentes. Folia 

 4-8 poll, longa, 2-4 lata, petiolo 3-4-pollicaii, primordialia argute sinuato-dentata, 

 CBEtera iategerrima, profunde cordata vel sagittata, basl 5-7-uervia, cseterum peani- 

 nervia, utriuque glabriuscula vel tenuiter pubesoentia, vel subtus laxe et moUiter to- 

 mentosa. Cymm axillai'es vel pauUo supra-axiUares, plenimque binse, petioles sequan- 

 teavel breviores, pluries dicbotomse, multiflorae, bracteia adramificationesfiliformibus. 

 Flores minuti, paUidi, pubescentes. Sepala acutiuscula, nervosa. Petala obovato- 

 cuneata, superne triloba, lobo medio emarginato, lateralibus inflexis, interdum vix 

 lobata. Drufce pulposse, viridescentes, succo viscido scateutes, ovales, Iseves (in sicco 

 rostratae) . 



A very variable plant. The leaves of young plants are often remarkably toothed. 

 Mr. Miers indicates four species, but be assigns no characters. We find the form 

 and clothing of the leaves to vary so much, even on the same specimens, that we are 

 fuUy persuaded that all the forms hitherto known belong to one species. 



4. TINOSPORA, Miers. 



Sepala 6, biserialia, interiora majora, ovalia vel obovata, membranacea. 

 Petala 6, sepalis interioribus minora, obovata vel cuneata. Mas. Sta- 

 mina 6 ; filanienta cylindrica, crassa, apice subclavata ; anthercB biloou- 

 lares, locuUs oblique adnatis lateralibus. Fcem. Stamina steriUa 6, ola- 

 vata, carnosa. Ovaria 3, gynophoro convexo insidentia. Stigmata 

 lacera. Brupa 1-3, carnosse, dorso convexse, ventre planse, styli cica- 

 trice subterminali notatse. Putamen rugosum, dorso carinatum, ventre 

 leviter excavatum. Podoipermium in cavitatem projectum, leviter bi- 

 lobum, intus cavum. Semen circa podospermium convolutum. Albu- 

 men carnosTiai, oleosum, antice laminis transversis ruminatum. Embryo 

 subcurvatus. Radicula supera cylindrica; cotyledones ovatae, divari- 

 oatse, in loculis diversis albuminis segregatse.- — Frutices scandentes, pe- 

 tiolis baai articulatis, basin versus incrassatis, racemis elongatis axillari- 

 bus vel terminalibus. 



This genus and the last agree with Aspidocarya in the subterminal position of the 

 style in the drupe, but differ from it in the decidedly amphitropous ovules and pel- 

 tate seeds. In Tinospora the internal process of the putamen is much more deve- 

 loped than in Faratcena, in which it is merely a depression on the surface of the 

 putamen, convex iuternally. Here (as in Anamirta and Coscinium) the condyloid 

 process has a narrow base, and projects far into the interior of the cell, and is em- 

 braced by the overlapping edges of the seed. It is also hollow, and the interior is 

 occupied by a gelatinous mass. The cavity of its interior communicates vrith the 

 exterior of the putamen by two perforations in the latter, one on each side of the 

 median Unc. These do not, as in Anamirta and Coscinium^ form elongated canals 

 in the thickened bony mass, but the structure is the same as in those genera, difl'er- 

 ing only in degree. The albumen on the ventral side of the seed is divided into 

 irregular masses by thin transverse plates of cellular tissue, which penetrate almost 

 to the embryo. 



All the species of this genus are remarkable for their extreme vitality. When the 

 main trunk is cut across or broken, a rootlet is speedily sent down from above, which 

 continues to grow tiU it reaches the ground, and restores the connection. 



Chasmanthera of Hochstetter, with the habit and inflorescence of Tinospora, has 

 monadelphous stamens. The fruit is also a little different, the concavity of what we 

 have called the podosperm forming a deep hollow on the ventral face of the putamen, 

 conspicuous externally aa soon as the sarcocarp is removed, almost as in Calyco- 

 carpum of Nuttall, figured in Asa Gnij's genera of North American plants. The 



