430 BUBIACEM, [Rubia. 



A very abundant weed witliin the area. Distrib. Subtrop. Himalaya 

 from the neighbourhood of Simla eastwards, and south to Ceylon ; also 

 in the Malay Pen. and Islands, China and the Philippines. The root is 

 used as an alterative, like that of sarsaparilla, and the seeds have been 

 recommended as a substitute for coffee. 



24 RUBIA Linn. ; Fl. Brit. Ind.iii, 202. 



Scabrid hispid or prickly erect diffuse or climbing herbs; stem& 

 square, slender. Leaves 4-8 in a whorl, rarely opposite and stipulate. 

 Flowers small or minute, in axillaiy and terminal cymes,pedicel jointed 

 with the ovary. Calyx-tuhs ovoid or globose ; limb O. Corolla rotate 

 or shortly bell- or funnel-shaped ; lobes 4-5, valvate. Stamens 

 4-5, inpeited on the corolla-tube, filaments short ; anthers globose 

 or oblong. Ovary 2-celled ; style 2-fid or styles 2, stigma capitate, 

 ovules one in each cell, erect, attached to the septum. Fruit small, 

 didymous, fleshy, or globose by tbe suppression of a carpel. 8e€d» 

 suberect, adhering to the pericarp, testa membranous. — Species about 

 30, chiefly temperate. 



R. cordifoUa, Linn. Syst. (ed. XII). 229 ; W. ^ A. Prod. 442 ; Boyle III. 

 237; P. B. 1. in, 202; WattE.D.; Collett Fl.Siml. 233; Cooke' Fl. Bomh. 

 i, 625. E. Munjista, Roxh.; Fl. Ind. i, 374. E. purpurea. Dene, in Jacquemy 

 Yoy. Bot. 84, t. 92' 



A perennial climbing herb with long cylindric roots. Branches stout, 

 ret rorsely acabrid or glabrous. Leaves 4i in a, whorl, two often larger 

 and with longer petioles, l|:-4 in. long, ovate-cordate, acute, scabrid 

 or smooth ; nerves 3-7 from the base, prominent and usually retrorseljr 

 scabrid beneath ; petiole 2-4 in. long ; the upper leaves often acute at 

 the base and with shorter petioles. Flowers minute, 5-merous, dark 

 red, arranged in terminal cymose panicles ; the branches Schotomous, 

 spreading, with opposite sessile leaf-like cordate bracts. Calyx-tuhe 

 globose, glabrous, limb obsolete. Corolla-tuhe very short ; lobes 5, 

 ovate, acute, their tips incurved. J.wt/iers globose. Fruit didymons cr 

 globose, smooth, dark purple when ripe. 



Dehra Dun and Sub-Himalayan tracts of Eohilkhand and N. Ondh- 

 Flowers during the rainy season. Disteib. Throughout the hilly 

 portions of India from the N.-W. Frontier eastwards,on the Himalaya up 

 to 8,000 ft. and south to Ceylon and the Malay Peninsula ; also in 

 China, Japan, Java, and Trop. Africa. A valuable dye (manjit) is 

 extracted from the roots and stems of this plant. 



25. GALIUM. Linn. ; Fl. Brit. Ind. iii, 204. 



Gla])rons, hispid scabrid or priokly, erect or scandent, weak herbs ; 

 branches square, ieaves 3 or- more in a whorl, rarely opposite SrBd 



