Remarks on a few Plants from Central India. 367 



There are few Indian families in greater need of revision 

 than Verbenaceas, the characters of which require to be 

 much enlarged. Even in so late a work as the Scrophu- 

 larinese Indicae of Mr. Bentham, the incomplete characters 

 of a fruit, which is indehiscent and an ovarium divided 

 into uniovulate cells, are given as affording " more decided" 

 marks of distinction from Scrophularineaa. For the present, 

 I have only to remark that Selagineae are not absolutely dis- 

 tinguished from Verbenaceas by their unilocular anthers ; 

 such a structure, (even were it sufficient for the foundation 

 of a distinct family,) appearing to exist in some Verbenaceaa, 

 allied to Clerodendrum ; which genus may perhaps be consi- 

 dered as the type of the family. 



And as connected with Indian Verbenacea^ I may add that 

 Corysanthera, referred to that family with doubt by Dr. 

 Wallich, belongs to that section of Gesnereae, described by 

 Jack as a distinct family under the name Cyrtandraceae.* 



The last specimen I have to notice, is a fragment of a 

 Ceropegia, of the natural family Asclepiadeee. Of this Mr. 

 Macleod, says, l( The Bagaia Kanda is a tuber exceeding- 

 ly resembling the Blatce, which I consequently imagine may 

 be perhaps rendered by culture a valuable addition to our 

 esculent vegetables, especially as it appears to come to 

 maturity in May. I have accordingly transferred a few 

 plants of it to my own garden for experiment. The basal- 

 tic, however, is it native soil, and I find it sickens in the 

 light siliceous soil, which composes our gardens here." 



As Mr. Macleod has in the most obliging manner pro- 

 mised to communicate to me a more general collection, I 

 hope before long to send you further notices regarding the 

 vegetation of Mr. Macleod's district. From all that I could 

 learn during a short visit to Jubbulpore, it would appear to 

 include table lands, 5 or 6,000 feet above the level of the 

 sea, and possessing a very moist climate. 

 Malacca, June 10, 1842. 



* Lin. Trans, vol. xiv. p. 23. 



