Page:The Flora of British India Vol 4.djvu/13

Hemidesmus.] each cell, granular; appendages of the corpuscles dilated or hooded. Stigma 5-angled, crown flat. Follicles long, slender, divaricate, terete, smooth. Seeds comose.

H. indicus, ''Br. in Mem. Wern. Soc.'' i. 57; leaves from broadly obovate to oblong elliptic linear or linear-lanceolate obtuse or apiculate. ''Wall. Cat.'' 8243; Wight Contrib. 63: Wight Ic. t. 594; ''Deless. Ic. Sel. v. t. 55; Dalz & Gibs. Bomb. Fl. 147; Grah. Cat. Bomb. Pl. 122; Dene, in DC. Prodr.'' viii. 494; ''Benth. & Trim. Meet. Pl.'' t. 174. H. Wallichii, Miquel PL Hohenack. No. 359. Periploca indica, ''Willd. Sp. Pl.'' i. 2251. Asclepias pseudo-sarsa, ''Roxb. Hort. Beng. 20, and Fl. Ind.'' ii. 39, ''excl. syn.—Burm. Thes. Zeyl.'' t. 83, f. 1; ''Rheede Hort. Mal.'' x. t. 34.

from Banda to Oudh and Sikkim, and southwards to Travancore and

Leaves most variable in form, length, and breadth, the shorter and broader 1-1½ by 1-1½ in., the longer 4 by ⅓ in., tne broadest sometimes retuse at the tip, the narrowest finely acuminate, those on the young shoots often white along the midrib; petiole 1/6 in. Pedicels clothed with ovate acute imbricating bracts. Corolla 1/6 in. diam., green without, purple within. Follicles 4-5 in. Seeds 1/5 in., ovate-oblong, flattened, black; coma l in. pubescens; stem and leaves beneath and sometimes above pubescent. H. pubescens, ''Wight & Am. Contrib. 63; Wight Ic. t. 1320; Wall. Cat. 8244; Bene, in DC. Prodr.'' viii. 495. — Behar on the Soane river, J. D. H.; Decean Peninsula, Wight, &c.

Twining glabrous shrubs. Leaves opposite. Flowers in very lax slender dichotomous few-flowered peduncled terminal or axillary cymes. Calyx with 5 scales within. Corolla-tube short, cylindric or bell-shaped; lobes linear, overlapping and twisted to the right. Coronal scales 5, about or above the middle of the tube, linear or clavate, conniving. Filaments subconnate by their broad bases; anthers short, adhering by their base to the stigma, tips conniving, acuminate; pollen-masses cohering in pairs in each cell, granular, appendages oblong. Stigma broadly conic. Follicles divaricate, terete, smooth. Seeds comose. — Species 14; Tropical Asiatic and African.

1. C. Buchanani, ''Roem. fy Sch. Syst.'' iv. 409; glabrous, leaves oblong or elliptic, glaucous beneath, nerves very many slender nearly horizontal, cymes axillary many-flowered. Wight Ic. t. 494, and Ill. t. 182, f. 8; ''Falc. in Trans. Linn. Soc.'' xix. 53, t. 5; ''Brandis. For. Fl. 330; Dalz. & Gibs. Bomb. Fl.'' 148. C. reticulata, ''Wall. Cat. 1640; Royle Ill.'' 270. Nerium reticulatum, ''Roxb. Hort. Beng. 19, and Fl. Ind.'' ii. 8. Echites reticulata, Roth Nov. Sp. 134. E. cuspidata, ''Heyne in Herb. Rottl. — Rheede Hort. Mai.'' ix. t. ll.

Throughout from  to  and  ascending the Himalaya to 4000 ft.; and southwards to and

Leaves 3-6 by 1-2½ in., coriaceous, shining above, sometimes obovate, apiculate or acuminate, base acute; petiole ½ in. Cymes very shortly peduncled, paniculate; branches short, divaricate. Sepals short, acute. Corolla yellow, in. diam.; tube very short, lobes lanceolate. Coronal scales clavate. Follicles 2-4 in., straight, rigid, gradually narrowed from about the middle where they are ½-¾ in. diam. Seeds ¼ in. long, oblong-ovate, contracted below the tip, compressed; coma 1 in.

2. C. grandiflora, Wight Ic. t. 831, and Ill. ii. 169, t. 155 d, f. E; glabrous, leaves obovate oblong or elliptic obtuse or mucronate, pale beneath,