N. 0. ASCLEPIADPLE. 823 



conical. Follicles 4-5 by -Jin., thinly coriaceous, slightly 

 diverging, narrowed to the base, tip fine, straight. Seeds 

 flattened, J- Jin. long, ovate. 



Use : — Water passed through a bundle of Somalatd and a 

 bag of salt, will extirpate white ants from a field watered by it. 

 The ancient Hindus used to prepare an intoxicating liquor 

 from the juice of the plant mixed with barley and ghee (Bird- 

 wood). 

 This does u~>t seem to be the soma plant of the Vedas. (13. I) 13.). 



779. Oymnema sylvestre, Br. h.f.b.i., iv. 29. 



Syn. : — Asclepias geminata, Eoxb. 256. 



Sans. : — Mesha-sringi. 



Vern. : — Mera-singi (H. and B.) ; G-urmar (H.) Kavali, wakandi 

 (Bomb.); Shiru-kurunja (Tarn.) ; Poda-patra, putla-podra (Tel.); 

 Parpatrah (Dec); Chhota-dudhi-lata (B.). 



Habitat : — Banda, Dekkan Peninsula, from the Konkan to 

 Travancore ; Ceylon, low country. 



A stout, woody climber, covering high trees. Branches 

 slender, very numerous, cylindric, softly and shortly hairy. 

 Leaves l-2Jin. or 1^-2'm., rather small, ovate, obovate or elliptic, 

 rounded at base, rarely cordate, acute, shortly acuminate, hairy 

 on the veins, especially beneath. Petiole iin., hairy, slender 

 or stout. Cymes Jin. diam., subglobose, 2-nate, peduncled, nearly 

 flat ; pedicels slender. Bracts obsolete, says J. D. Hooker, but 

 says Trimen, probably after examining the plant in the fresh 

 and not dried condition, that the bracts are numerous, minute, 

 hairy. Calyx segments ovoid, rounded or obtuse, hairy. Corolla 

 about -g-in. diam., pale-yellow ; lobes about as long as the tube, 

 acute, recurved, coronal scales in the throat of Corolla, fleshy, 

 blunt, produced downwards as double ridges on the tube ; 

 Column small ; stigma ovoid, prominent. Follicles small (one 

 usually suppressed) li-2in ; slender tapering (Trimen) ; 2-3 by 

 Jin., glabrous, terete, rigid (J. D. Hooker). Seeds narrow, Jin. 

 long, narrowly ovoid-oblong, flat, with a broad thin wing, 



