X78 8APINDACEM. [Cardtospebmum. 



1. CABDIOSPERMUM, Linn. ; Fl. Brit. Ind. i, 669. 



' Climbing herbs with wiry stems and branches. Leaves alternate, 

 biternate, exstipulate ; leaflets coarsely dentate. Racemes axillary, 

 lowest pair of pedicels developed into spiral tendrils. Flowers 

 irregular, polygamo-dioecious. Sepals 4, concave, the 2 onter ones 

 smaller. Petals 4, in pairs, the 2 larjjer lateral ones usually adher- 

 ing to the sepals, each with an emarginate scale above the base, the 

 2 smaller inferior and remote from the stanieaSj each furnished 

 with a small crested scale. Disk unilateral, wavy, almost reduced 

 to 2 round or linear glands opposite the lower petals. Stamens 8, 

 excentric ; filaments free or connate, the 4 nearest to the glands 

 shorter than the rest. Ovary 3- celled j style short, 3-fid ; ovules 

 solitary. Cajpsule 3-celled, 3-valved, inflated, Joculicidal. Seeds 

 globose, usually arillate at the base, exalbuminous. — Species about 

 14, mostly in Tropical America. 



C. HaUcacabum, Linn. 8p. PI. 366; Boxh. Fl., Ind., ii, 292; W. ^ A. 

 Prod. 109 ; Boyle III. 137 ; D. ^ G. Bomb. FL 34; F. B. I. i, 670; 

 Watt, E. D. 



An annual or perennial nearly glabrons climbing' herb. Stem slender, 

 furrowed. Leaves l|-3 in. long, deltoid or ovate : 'petioles 2-3 in. long ; 

 leaflets deeply cut, acuminate, glabrous, thin and flaccid. Cymes small, 

 terminating a long stiff slender axillary peduncle, and provided beneath 

 the cyme with 2 opposite circinatetendr/Vs. Flair ers very small, white. 

 Sepals and petals rounded. Capsule ^-f in wide, depressed pyriform, 

 trigonous, winged at the angles ; valves papery, veined, finely pubescent. 

 Seeds globose, smooth, black ; aril heart-shaped, whice. 



Common within the area, climbing on hedges and over bushes. 

 DiSTBiB. : Over all the hotter parts of ilndia and in Ceylon, ascending 

 to 4,000 ft. on the W. Himalaya ; also in most other tropical and sub- 

 tropical countries. Various portions of the plant are used medicinally 

 and the leaves are sometimes cooked and eaten as a vegetable. 



2. ERIOGLOSSUM, Blume ; Fl. Brit. Ind. i, 672. 



Erect trees or shrubs. iea2;e5 alternate, odd-pinnate, exstipulate. 

 Leaflets opposite or sub-opposite, entire. Panicles terminal, erect, 

 bearing the white irregular polygamo-dioecious flowers on elongated 

 branches. Sepals 5, unequal, orbicular, concave, broadly imbricated, 

 the 2 outer ones smaller. Petals 4, unequal, obovate, clawed, the 

 place of the 5th vacant ; scale hairy, hooded, with an apical lobed 

 appendage. Disk one-sided, lobed. Stamens 8, more or Jess turned 

 to one side ; filaments hairy. Ovary stalked, obcordate, 3-lobed, 

 3-cellod; styl^'iiQT^^^x\ stigma obscurely 3-lobed ; owtt/e* solitary in 



