Contributions to the botany of India / By Robert Wight.

  • Robert Wight
Date:
1834
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Contributions to the botany of India / By Robert Wight. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    distinet from a piant he himself liad previously sent from Pegu to the Cal- cutta Botanic Garden under the name of Asclep. tingens: this last is our Gymnema tingens. We consider this a very doubtful native of the Peninsula; our only specimens from thence being from Klein’s herbarium, without the locality mentioned; while, on the other liand, in Walliclfis collection, speci¬ mens from the same herbarium are marked as procured from the Missionary garden. 5. M. Hamiltonii (Wight:) volubilis glabra, foliis cordato-oblongis acumi¬ natis, cymis subcapituliformibus multifloris petiolo brevioribus, floribus parvis, corollae tubo ventricoso fauce villis clausa, cor. st. foliolis gynostegio longio¬ ribus apice attenuatis, pollinis massis oblongis corpusculo minutissimo aflixis, stigmate apiculato.—Cynanchum, Wall. ! Asclep. n. 84.—C. reticulatum, herb. Ham.! n. 750.—Apud Sukanagur; Hamilton. From the mst. synonyms attached to this piant in his herbarium (now be- longing to the University of Edinburgh), Hamilton appears to have taken his specific name from the supposition of its being Apocynum reticulatum of Willdenow: as, however, it is certainly not so, and as the leaves of this spe¬ cies are mucli less distinctly reticulated than those of M. tinctoria, I have taken the liberty of changing the name.—(R. W.) § 4. Corollae faux nuda, tubus sparsim pilosus. Cor. st. foliola latiuscula, apice truncata vel bifida lobo uno acuminato alteram cariniformam prope basin gerente. Cymae patentes magnae multiflorae, floribus majusculis. The two plants referret! to this section may eventually form a distinet genus, but we can find no good character by which to separate thfe one from Marsdenia, and the other is so closely allied to it, that it can only be distinguished by an examina- tion of the corona. G. M. Calesiana (Wight:) volubilis pubescens, foliis cordatis vel cordato- ovatis acuminatis utrinque tomentosis, cymis (magnis) multifloris, corollae segmentis angustis acutis margine revolutis, cor. st. foliolis alte bifidis lobo uno longiore antherae incumbente altero breviore versus basin cariniformi, stigmate apiculato.—Pergularia Calesiana, herb. Ham.!; Wall.! Asci. n. 57, e. -Apud Morang ; Hamilton.—(R. W.) 7. M. tenacissima (W. & A.:) volubilis, foliis cordatis acuminatis utrinque tomentosis, cymis magnis, corollae segmentis latis obtusis, cor. st. foliolis latis apice truncatis subintegris vel bifurcatis, stigmate obtuse apiculato.— Wight.! cat. n. 1526.—Asclepias tenacissima, Roxb.! Cor. 3. p. 35. t. 240; fl. Ind. 2. p. 5l; in ccet. mere. Ind. or. mus. tab. 1381; Wall.! Asci. n. 57.—A. tomen- tosa, herb. Madr.!—A. echinata, herb. Madr.!—Gymnema tenacissima, Spr. syst. 1. p. 844.-In collibus Rajemahl; Roxburgh.—Chittagong; Wallich. Although we have it from the Madras herbarium, it is probably not a na¬ tive of the Peninsula: the specimens under the name of A. tomentosa are from the Missionaries’ garden; that under A. echinata was sent to Klein so named by Heyne, but is obviously not the piant of Roxburgh. X. COSMOSTIGMA. Wight. Corolla rotata, 5-partita. Corona staminea 5-phylla ; foliolis compressis bifidis. Antherae ventricosae membrana terminatae. Massae pollinis erectae, corpusculo stigmatis ope appcndiculi longi penduli basi affixae. Stigma mu¬ ticum ala angusta flexuosa repanda coronatum. Folliculi magni lineari-ob- longi obtusi laeves. Semina comosa.—Frutices volubiles. Folia opposita, membranacea. Corymbi saepe geminati, longe pedunculati. Flores parvi. 1 have separated this from Marsdenia principally on account of the very peculiar and beautiful stigma: the cleft leaflets of the corona allies it to the last section of that genus.
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