Decanema.'] 
ASCLEPIADACEiE. 
227 
8 or 10 feet, flexuose and irregularly branched. Bracts at each joint 
minute, scariose, ovate acuminate. Leaves entirely absent. Flowers 
few together in distant lateral and terminal umbels on pedicels •§—■ 1 in. 
long. Corolla under ■§■ in. long, the segments fleshy, yellow. Follicles 
half a foot long. 
Mauritius ; on the Pouce and Montagne Longue, Bouton , teste JDecaisne. We have 
no specimens, and I suspect some confusion with Sarcostemma viminale. Also 
Madagascar. 
4. SARCOSTEMMA, R. Br. 
Calyx small, deeply 5-fid, furnished with 5 very minute glands. 
Corolla subrotate, deeply 5-cleft. Corona usually double ; outer cup- 
like ; inner of 5 erect scales adnate to the back of the stamens, with a 
short free tip ; anthers ending in an indexed membrane ; pollmia solitary 
in the cells, pendulous. Stigma faintly lobed at the top. Follicles spread- 
ing, slender or stout. — Climbing leafless shrubs with copious small 
flowers in lateral or terminal umbels. Distrib. Tropics of the Old 
World. Species 6-8. 
Outer corona toothed only 1. S. viminale. 
Outer corona 5-lobed nearly down to the base . . . 2. S. odontolepis. 
1. S, viminale, R. Br.; Dene. inDC.Prod.viii. 538. Aglabrous leafless 
fleshy twiner, with terete branches articulated at the nodes. Umbels 
sessile or peduncled ; pedicels puberulent, | in. long. Calyx in. 
long ; teeth ovate-oblong, ciliated at the edge. Corolla % in. long, 
deeply cleft ; lobes oblong, obtuse, glabrous. Outer corona cup-like, 
sinuate-dentate ; teeth 15, those opposite the stamens the largest ; inner 
scales widely saccate, twice the length of the outer corona, shorter than 
the gynostegium. Stigma minutely 2-3-lobed. 
Mauritius and Rodriguez, and probably also Seychelles, hut our specimens from 
the latter are not in flower. Also Cape and Tropical Africa. Liane Gale. 
2. S. odontolepis, Balf. fil. Habit and inflorescence exactly of 
S. viminale. Calyx in. long ; teeth ovate or suborbicular, slightly 
keeled, ciliated at the edge. Corolla in. long, deeply cleft ; lobes 
oblong, glabrous. Outer corona deeply 5-partite; lobes with three 
unequal teeth, the central one the largest ; inner scales saccate, thrice 
the length of the outer corona, nearly as long as the gynostegium. 
Stigma minutely 2-lobed. 
Rodriguez, Balfour ! May prove a variety of the last, as Dr. Balfour has seen a 
form which appears to be intermediate. Endemic. 
* The large American genus Asclepias , which is distinguished from 
G-omphocarpus by its smooth follicles and the hooded divisions of the 
Q 2 
