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—— Bo ek eee dae te ee a ee ONO te WANE Ag He EBS 
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PLATE XVI. A. 
CODONOPSIS (LEPTOCODON) GRACILIS, ay. e 7. 
Nat. Ord. CaAMPANULACEA. 
Herba gracillima volubilis glauca glaberrima tenella, foliis longe petiolatis ovatis ovato-rotundatisve obtusis grosse crenato- 
lobatis flaccidis, pedicellis gracilibus plerumque extra-alaribus, calycis tubo obconico, lobis obovatis subdentatis 
obtusis, corolla tubulosa supra medium ampliata limbo truncato obscure 5-lobo, ovario semisupero glandulis 5 
staminibus alternantibus aucto 3-loculari, ovulis paucis dissepimentis adnatis axi remotis, stylo gracili, stigmate 
trilobo extus hispido, fructu inferne coriaceo supra calycem sicco subchartaceo trivalvi in conum acuminatum 
producto, seminibus anguste oblongis, testa nitida. 
Has. In sylvis humidis temperatis Himalaye orientalis: Sikkim, alt. 5-7000 ped. FV. Maio. 
Nothing can exceed the beauty and delicacy of this little plant, which is of rare occurrence in Sikkim, 
inhabiting watercourses in very dense shaded woods, and covering bushes with its pale, translucent, mem- 
branous foliage and pale blue flowers. Like all its congeners, it is full of milky juice, and exhales a pecu- 
har strong and very disagreeable odour when bruised, much like that of the Rue in character. 
This and the two other species figured with it, are very singular plants, all so closely allied in many 
important botanical characters that I do not doubt their belonging to one genus, but all presenting such 
important differences in structural characters that many botanists will doubtless separate them. Thus the 
present species has flowers that seldom arise from the axils of the leaves, their pedicels being adnate with 
the stem above them ; a half-inferior ovary, with five stipitate glands between the stamens; a membranous 
corolla, with a tubular base, dilated throat, and slightly expanded truncated limb; a three-celled ovary, with 
few ovules attached to the dissepiments, but removed from the axis. The fruit is conical, both above and 
below the calyx, coriaceous below it, dry rather horny and three-valved above it, and the seeds have a 
polished testa. To this the subgeneric name of Leptocodon may be applied, in allusion to the narrow bell- 
shaped corolla. 3 
In the C. Javanica the calyx is wholly inferior, and the corolla superior ; the corolla is herbaceous, very 
broadly campanulate, with five spreading lobes; the ovary has no stipitate glands, is three- to five-celled, 
with fleshy axillary placente projecting into each cell, and covered with ovules; the fruit is a pulpy, trun- 
cated, mdehiscent berry, and the seeds are covered with a reticulated testa. This belongs to the genus 
Campanumea of Blume. 
In the C. «flata the calyx is wholly superior ; the corolla ventricose and herbaceous ; the ovary has no 
stipitate glands; the fruit is a fleshy berry, with three horny valves at the summit, as in C. gracilis, but the 
placentation and seeds are asin C. Javanica. To the species with flowers constructed upon this type the 
subgeneric name Hucodonopsis may be retained, as it was to these especially that Dr. Wallich applied the 
name of Codonopsis originally. 
