186 FLORA INDIOA. [M'-nispermacea. 



being; auotlier species. In a specimen from CcyloUj not otherwise distingnishablej 

 the leaves are acute at the base; and our Khasia specimens, wliich are not in flower, 

 have very lucid, ovate, somewhat elongated, subpeltate leaves, which seem to belong 

 to a young shoot. One of Gardner's Ceylon specimens has very similar leaves. "Wight 

 and Arnott quote also C. Jlavesceiis, DC. (described from Humph, v, t. 24), and C. 

 orbiciilatus, DC. (Rheede, xi. t. 62). The latter synonym is very doubtful. Rheede's 

 plate does not at all resemble the present genus, and the description in DC. Syst. i. 

 523, which is taken from a specimen in the Lamhertian Herbarium, belongs, no doubt, 

 to Cissampelos Pareira, The berries of Anamirta C'occulus, which are poisonous, 

 are employed by the natives of India to kill fish. In England they are extensively 

 used in the adulteration of beer. 



Tribus III. CocctiLEiE. 



Ovaria 3 vel plura. BrnpcB obovatse vel hippocrepiformes, styli ci- 

 catrice fere basilari, plus minus lateraliter compressEE, cavitate scmini 

 subcylindrico conformi. Emhryo in albumine parco axilis ; cotyledones 

 appositBB, elongatfe. 



The structure of the seed of this tribe is completely masked in the fresh drupe by 

 the sarcocarp, but, in a dried state, the outer coat shrinks so as to display the mark- 

 ings and structure of the putamen. "When the sarcocarp is removed, the putamen is 

 seen to form an elongated cylinder, folded on itself, so as to bring the base and ape.t 

 into contact-, the concavity of the horse-shoe being filled up by a bony plate, va- 

 riously perforated, along which the mitritive vessels pass to the hilum, which is 

 situated at the apex of the sinus : in this way the radicular extremity of the seed, 

 which is really superior, is brought down close to the base of the drupe. 



The genus TUiacora is placed in a distinct tribe by Jlr. JMiers, on account of its 

 numerous ovaries, ruminated albumen, and valvate calyx ; but as Tinospora among 

 Tinosporea has ruminated albumen, wliich is wanting in others of the same tribe, and 

 several species of Limacia have a valvate sestivation of the inner sepals, we cannot 

 think that it is desirable to retain the tribe Tlliacorece. 



6. TILIACORA, Colebrooke. 



Sepala 6, biserialia, exteriora multo minora, interiora ovalia, aBstiva- 

 tione margine vix imbricata. Petala 6, minuta, cuneata. Mas. Sta- 

 ■hima 6 ; filamenta cylindrica suboompressa ; antlierm adnatfe, introrste, 

 biloculares. FffiM. Ovaria 9-12, stylo brevi subulato apioulata, gyno- 

 phoro brevi insidentia. Drupm pedicellatse, obovatse, lateraliter sub- 

 compressse, prope basin styli cicatrice notatse. Putamen tenue, ligno- 

 sum, obscure costatum, utrinque sulco notatum. Semen nncinato-in- 

 curvum. Testa tenuissima. Alhwien oleosum, endospermii pliois mem- 

 branaceis ruminatum. Embryo semen longitudine fere ajquans. Radi- 

 cula cylindrica. Cotyledones carnosse, plano-convexse. — Frutices alte 

 scande'ntes, inflorescentia axillari paniculata, petiolis gracilibus basi arti- 

 culatis. 



TUiacora is readily distinguished from all the other genera of its tribe by its rumi- 

 nated albumen and numerous ovaries. One species only is known to us, which is 

 widely difi'used throughout tropical India. Mr. Jliers alludes to an hermaphrodite 

 species from Ceylon, but this we have not seen ; and Mr. Thwaites's Ceylon speci- 

 mens do not differ in any way from continental or Malayan ones. 



In TUiacora the stem, when several years old, and one-third of an inch in dia- 

 meter, is cylindrical, hard, and woody, striated externally. PUh very dense and 



