nerves 5-6 pairs arched, cymes axillary and terminal few- or many-flowered. C. Wightiana, Wall. Cat. 4457. Echites coriacea, Heyne in Herb. Rottler.
Deccan Peninsula; the Mount, Madras, Heyne, &c.; Balaghaut Mts., Wight.
Leaves 2-4 by 1-2 in., very variable in form, coriaceous, hardly glaucous beneath,
base acute; petiole ½ in. Cymes sparingly branched, usually long-peduncled; branches
stout, prominently distantly scarred by the fallen bracts. Sepals large, ovate, acute.
Corolla 1 in. diam; tube ventricose, lobes falcate lanceolate. Coronal scales ciavate.
Follicles 2-4 in., curved and conniving or straight and divaricate. Seeds very large, ¾ in. long, linear-oblong; coma a little longer.
3. C. elegans, Wall. Cat. 1639; glabrous, leaves oblong or linear-oblong or -lanceolate apiculate, rounded at both ends or acuminate, glaucous beneath, nerves numerous very faint and spreading, cymes axillary and terminal few-flowered. G. Don Gen. Syst. iv. 82. C. pauciflora, Wight Ic. t. 493. C. laxiflora, Blume Mus. Bot. i. 147. Aganosma Edithæ, Hance in Ann. Sc. Nat. Ser. 5. v. 227. Echites pauciflora. Herb. Rottl. Nerium paucifioruin, Roxb. Ic. ined.
Sikkim; Terai, J. D. H. Orissa, Heyne. Assam, Bengal, Khasia Mts., Chittagong, Tenasserim and Andaman Islds.———Distrib. Java, S. China. A slender climber. Leaves 1½-2½ by ¾ in., rarely ovate or linear-lanceolate, tip sometimes retuse, base rarely cordate; petiole ¼-½ in., very slender. Cymes 2-4 in., peduncles long, branches few and pedicels slender. Sepals ovate, obtuse. Corolla yellow, 1-1½ in. diam., tube short, lobes lanceolate, tips twisted. Coronal scales clavate. Follicles 5-8 in., slender, nearly straight. Seeds much as in C. Buchanani.———The mss. name of Apocynum orixense, in Rottler's Herbarium, indicates the Orissa habitat of this plant. Flower fragrant.
3*. CRYPTOSTEGIA, Br.
Lofty climbers. Leaves opposite. Flowers large, in terminal 3-chotomous cymes. Sepals lanceolate. Corolla funnel-shaped, tube short, throat campanulate; lobes broad, overlapping and twisted to the right. Coronal scales at the base of the throat, subulate, entire or 2-cleft. Filaments short; anthers adnate to the stigma, acute; pollen-masses in pairs in each cell, granular, appendages subspathulate. Stigma convex. Follicles thick, divaricate, hard, 3-winged, furrowed between the wings. Seeds comose. — Distrib. Madagascar.
C. grandiflora, Br. in Bot. Reg. t. 435; glabrous, leaves elliptic obtuse, coronal scales cleft into two filiform segments. Wall. Cat. 1635; Wight & Arn. Contrib. 36; Wight Ic. t. 832, and ill. ii. t. 182, f. 9; Grah. Cat. Bomb. Pl. 122; Dalz. & Gibs. Bomb. Pl. Suppl. 54; Dcne, in DC. Prodr. viii. 492; Miquel Pl. Rar. Jard. Buitenz. t. 8; Reichb. Ic. Exot. t. 132. Nerium grandiflorum, Roxb. Hort. Beng. 19, and Fl. Ind. ii. 100.
Cultivated in various parts of India.
Branches stout. Leaves 3-4 by 1½-2 in., coriaceous, glossy above; nerves many,
spreading, arched, faint, base acute; petiole ½-⅔ in. Cymes short, spreading,
peduncle and branches -stout, hoary or glabrous; bracts caducous. Sepals ½-⅔ in.
Corolla pale pinkish purple, tube and throat 1½ in. long, limb often 2 in. diam., lobes
acute. Follicles 4-5 by 1-1½ in., broadest near the base, straight, woody. Seeds
¼ in. long, oblong-ovate, compressed, narrowed upwards; coma 1½ in., very fine.———
Supposed to be a native of Africa or Madagascar, from which latter country another
species is described with leaves pubescent beneath and entire coronal scales, but this
is only known from Mauritian garden specimens. Schweinfurth found C. grandiflora
cultivated at Khartum on the Nile.
