ASCLEPIADACEjE. 453 



the aborigines to poison their arrows ; taken internally, in small doses, it 

 operates as a drastic purge. The Vincetoxicum officinale was at one time 

 much used in Europe as a hydragogue, and thought beneficial in cutaneous 

 eruptions and scrofula. The roots of Sarcostcmma glauca are employed in 

 Venezuela as a substitute for ipecacuanha. Those of Gymnema sylvestre 

 are supposed in India to possess virtues in snake-bites ; they are used both 

 externally and internally (Ainslie, ii. 340). 



The leaves of Solenostemma argel, as before observed, are used in Egypt 

 to mix with senna, and sometimes form a large proportion in some samples 

 of the Alexandrian ; it is stated that the leaves of Gomphocarpus fruticosus 

 are employed for the same purpose. The young stalks of Hoyea viridiflora 

 are said in India to possess virtues in dropsical cases, and also as an expecto- 

 rant. In short, almost all the plants of this order have much the same pro- 

 perties to a greater or less extent. Some of them, it is. said, are so -mild as 

 to be used as food ; but, as a general rule, they are deleterious ; a few of the 

 species yield caoutchouc, and many of them afford a very tenacious fibre, that 

 may be employed for all the purposes of hemp ; that of Asclepias syriaca has 

 been manufactured into ropes, and found fully equal to the best Russian. 

 Royle states that from some species a very good indigo can be made, par- 

 ticularly from Marsdenia tinctoria (Illus. 274). 



Hemidesmus. — R. Brown. 



Calyx 5-parted. Corolla rotate, with coriaceous segments, and five rounded, thick 

 scales in the throat of the tube. Filaments connate at base, inserted in the tube, above dis- 

 tinct. Anthers free from stigma, cohering at tip, smooth. Pollen masses 20, granular, hav- 

 ing a quaternary arrangement. Stigma pentagonal, stellate. Follicles cylindrical, smooth. 



A small East Indian genus, including a few species formerly arranged in 

 Periploca, and consisting of twining plants, with opposite or somewhat irre- 

 gular leaves, and flowers in interpetiolary cymes. 



H. indicus, Brown. — Smooth, leaves ovate, subcordate or oblong, with the ends obtuse, 

 or linear and cuspidate. Cymes subsessile. Peduncles bracteolate. Scales of corolla 

 obtuse, adhering to whole length of tube. Follicles slender, erect. 



Common Names. — Country Sarsaparilla ; Indian Sarsaparilla. 



It is a native of Lower India and Ceylon, and other parts of the East 

 Indies. It was first described by Bergius (Zeylan., 187), as a species of 

 Periploca, and was considered as such- until made the type of the present 

 genus by Brown. It has been in use as a medicinal agent in India for a 

 long time, but was almost unknown in Europe until the attention of the pro- 

 fession was called to it in 1819, by Dr. Ashburner (Lond. Med. and Phys. 

 Jour.) The root is the part used ; this is brownish externally, and is long, 

 tortuous, round, rugose, and furrowed longitudinally. The cortical portion 

 has a cork-like consistence, and the ligneous portion is yellowish. The 

 odour is peculiar and somewhat aromatic, resembling that of orris root, and 

 the taste bitterish. It has been analyzed by Mr. Garden [Lond. Med. Gaz.), 

 who found in it a peculiar Volatile, crystallizable substance, on which the 

 properties of the root depended ; he, from supposing the root to be that of a 

 Smilax, called it Smilasperic acid. 



Medical Properties. — The properties of the Hemidesmus are much the 

 same as those of sarsaparilla, for which it has been employed as a substitute. 

 Ainslie (Mat. Ind. i. 382) states that it is " recommended by the Tamool 

 doctors in cases of gravel, given in powder, mixed with cow's milk ; they also 

 give it in decoction, in conjunction with cummin seeds, to purify the blood 

 and correct the acrimony of the bile." Dr. Ashburner, who employed it in 

 many cases, speaks in the highest terms of it as an alterative ; he says it in- 



