30 MENISPERMACE^, [Stephania. 



Ovary 1 ; style 3-6-partite. Drupe glabrous ; endocarp com- 

 pressed, horseshoe-sliaped, dorsally tubercled, sides hollowed and per- 

 forated. Seed almost animlar.— Tropical portions of the Old World. 



Flowers in capitate umbels . . • . 1. /S. discolor. 

 Flowers in lax umbellate cymes . . . 2. S. rotunda. 



1. S. discolor, Spreng. Syst. iv. Cur, Post. 316. S. hernandifolia, 

 Walp ; Hh. f. Sf T. Fl. Ind. 196; F. B. I. i, 103 ; Watt E. D. Cissampelos 

 hernandifolia, Willd, ; Boxh. Fl. Ind. m, 842; C. hexandra, F^xb. I. c. S41. 

 Clypea hernandifolia, W, ^ A. Prod. 14. 



Leaves 3-6 in. in diam., ovate or subdeltoid* acute obtuse or acuminate, 

 base truncate or subcordate, pale or glaucous and sometimes thinly- 

 pubescent beneath; petioles !i-l in. Flowers greenish-white, very 

 small, nearly sessile, in small capitate umbels at the ends of axillary 

 peduncles. Sepals of male fl. obovate, obtuse; of fern. fl. acute. Petals 

 3-4, much shorter. Drupes red. 



Dehra Dun. Distkib. : Nepal to Chittagong. and south to Singapore, 

 Ceylon, Malay Pen., and Malay Islands ; also in Australia and Africa. 



2. S. rotunda. Lour. Fl. Cochinch. 608; Hk. f. ^ T. Fl. Ind. 197; F. B. 

 I. i. 103. Cocculus Eoxburghianus, Wall. ; W, Sf A. Prod. 450, Cissam- 

 pelos glabra, Roxh. Fl. Ind. iii, 840. Vern. PurJia (Dehra Dun). 



Boots subglobose. Leaves 3-7 in, in diam., broadly ovate or suborbicular, 

 often repand or sinuate-lobed, glabrous, pale beneath ; petioles 3-9 in. 

 Umbels in lax cymes ; peduncles of fern. fl. stouter than those of male ; 

 bracts subulate. Flowers ^-^ in., yellow. Sepals narrow, cuneate, 

 puberulous. PetaZs shorter. Dru^e pisiform. 



Dehra Dun. Distrib. : Trop. and temp. Himalaya, up to 7,000 ft. ; 

 Punjab ; Khasia Hills ; Pegu ; S. India ; also in Siam and Cochinchina. 

 Roxburgh states that the acrid root is used medicinally in Sylhet. 



7. CISSAMPELOS, Linn. ; Fl. Br. Ind. i. 103. 



Snberect or twining shrubs. Leaves often peltate. Male 6.: 

 cymose. Sepals 4, or 5-6, erose. Petals 4, connate, forming 

 a 4-lobed cup. Anthers 4, connate, encircling the top of the 

 stam. -column, bursting transversely. Fem. fl. racemed, crowded 

 in the axils of leafy bracts. Sepals 2 (or sep, and pet. 1 each), 

 2-nerved, adnate to the bracts. Slaminodes 0. Ovary 1 ; style 

 short, 3-fid. Drupe ovoid, style-scar subbasal ; endocarp horse- 

 shoe-shaped, compressed, dorsally tubercled, sides excavated. Seed 

 curved ; embryo slender. 



C. Pareira. Lmn. Sp. PI. 1013; Hk. /. ^ T. Fl.Ind. 19S ; B. S^ G. 

 Bomh. PL 5; P. B. I. i. 104 ; Brand. For. Fl. 10, 571 ; Watt E.D. G. 



