188 FLORA INDICA. \_Mejiispermacea . 



quite distinct from that occHpiecl by the seed, which is like that of other Cocculere. 

 These large cavities arc separated from one another by a thin double plate, in the few 

 )iuts we have seen perforated by a hole, so as to connect the two cavities ; this is, 

 however, possibly artificial. The funicle or nutritive cord probably passes to the 

 seed between these plates. These cavities are, in the dried state, empty, and are 

 covered externally by a thin arch of the putanien ; they commnuicate by very narrow 

 canals «ith its outer surface near the base of the drupe, and evidently correspond to 

 the deep external excavations of the putamcn of Coccuhis or Siephdnia. The bony 

 arch by which they are covered springs from the sides of the seed-containing cavity. 



We have examined the wood of three species of this genus, and find nearly the 

 same structure iu all. 



lu L. velutina a piece of stem, several years old, and half an inch in diameter, is 

 tolerably firm and woody in consistence, reddish inside, furrowed and pubescent exter- 

 nally. Pith two-thirds the diameter of the stem, central parts of soft utricular tissue, 

 gradually passing externally into long, nan'ow, woody tubes, which in a transverse 

 section resemble a thick zone of liber, but have square extremities, traversed by ca- 

 nals full of red fluid. Medullary rays dense. Wedges of wood close to circumfe- 

 rence, about forty, broadly ovate, rounded towards the bark and pith, of very large 

 barred vessels and dotted pleurcnchyma. Liber-bundles semilunar, placed at outer 

 extremity of each wood-bundle, and more or less entangled iu it. lledullary rays 

 of dense, radially elongated mural cells. Bark a very thin layer of hexagonal cellular 

 tissue. 



In L. oblovga the whole substance of the wood-wedges appears, in a transverse 

 section, to be formed of broad vessels and liber, which latter, in a vertical section, 

 consists of pleurenehyma, with perforated walls. The liber seems to be hardly at all 

 added to in these species after the first year. 



In L, ctospidata a two or three years old portion of stem is of a dense woody con- 

 sistence. Fith one-third the diameter of stem, of loose, hexagonal, soft, spongy 

 cellular tissue in the centre, passing into cubical cells towards circumference, and 

 then lengthening into a dense, hard woody layer of long tubes, with truncate cuds. 

 Medullary rays large, of minute, cubical, thick-walled cells. IFood-zones forty nar- 

 row wedges of dotted pleurcnchyma, and large transversely^ marked vessels. Liber- 

 hitiulle reniform. Bark a veiy narrow, dense zone of cellular tissue, A second 

 small deposit of liber is often seen outside each wood-zone. 



1. Ii. triandra (Mievs in Taylor's Annals, ser. '%. vii. 43) ; foliis 

 oblongo-lanceolatis acutis glabris, paniculis racemifonuibus folio bvevi- 

 oribus, flovibus triandris. — Menispermura triandrum, Uoxb. M. hid. iii. 

 816. Cocculus triandrus, Culebr. in Linn. Tr. xiii. 64; Wall. Cat. 

 4963! 4959 C! 4958 L! 



Hab. Malaya ad Penang, Roxb.! Pegu prope Prome, Wall.! — (y.s.) 



Frule.v scandens; ramulis puberulis demum glabratis. Fulia 2-4 poll, longa, 

 i_li poll, lata, petiolis puberulis i-pollicaribus, basi rotundata, triplinervia, apice 

 acuta vol acuminata cum mucroue, tenuia. Panicula ^-IJ-pollicares, pubernh-c ; 

 raniuli bractcis miuutis deciduis stipati, abbreviati, 3-5-flori. Flares flavi, minutis- 

 simi. Sepala exteriora minuta, interiora ovalia. Fetala 6, anguste obovata, in- 

 tcra. Stamina 3, sepalis exterioribus opposita; filamenta earnosa, cuneato-oblonga, 

 erecta ; anlhene terminates, bilocularcs, loculis adnatis divaricatis latcralibus. 



Mr. Miers constitutes of this a distinct section, characterized by the absence of half 

 Ihe number of stamens. We agree with him iu considering this character not to he of 

 o-cucric importance, and we further think that the species is too nearly allied in habit 

 and characters to the two next, both of which arc hexandrons, to make it desirable to 

 place it iu a distinct section. Mr. ~M\as has noted in the Wallichian collection that 

 tlie specimen of Ciia-idus iriyhliaims, from Fromc, tDoi) 0, Ijcloiigs to this spii-ies ; 

 but he bcenis to have afterwards icgarded it as disluict, as he states iu Taylor's All- 



