Flora Medica

COCCULUS.C. convolvulaceus DC. 1. c.Menispermum cordifolium Roxb.fl.'ind. iii. 811. (Rheede vii. t. 21.) One of the most commonwild plantsin India.Stem twining, perennial, very succulent, running over the highesttrees. Bark thick, corky, with many elevated scabrous specks from;the branches there frequently drop filiform fibres, which continuelengthening till they enter the ground, and form additional stems androots ; sometimes they are 30 feet long, and in no part thicker than,a pack-thread. Leaves alternate, petioled, broad-cordate, 5-nerved,entire, curved, smooth, about 4 inches each way. Petioles round,smooth, swelled at the base. Racemes axillary, or terminal, or fromthe tuberosities of former leaves, with frequently a few flowers inseparate axils. Flowers numerous, small, yellow. $ . Calyx 6-leaved;leaflets oval. Petals (inner sepals) 6, wedge-formed, half the length ofthe calyx ; margins inflected and embracing the filaments. Filaments6, clubbed, spreading, rather longer than the petals. Anthers twin,immersed in the fleshy extremities of the filaments. ? . Calyx, &c. as inthe male. Filaments 6, fleshy, sterile. Ovaries 3, superior, resting ona tumid receptacle. Style single, very short. Stigmas torn. Berries1, 2, or 3 ; generally 1 or 2, rarely all the 3, come to maturity, of thesize of a small cherry, smooth, red, succulent, with very glutinous pulp,each resting on a tumid receptacle. Seed single, kidney-formed ;onthe inside there is a deep pit, which receives its receptacle. Roxb.Root large, soft and spongy, like the China Root of the MateriaMedica. It isemployed by the natives of India, when fresh, in substance,mixed up with sour-rice gruel and sweetened with sugar, forthe cure of heat of urine in gonorrhoea. Roxb. Under the name ofGulancha ( Goluncha-luta, Roxb.) it is used in Bengal extensively in avariety of diseases, especially such as are attended by febrile symptomsnot of a highly inflammatory kind, and in fevers of debility. The partsused are the stems, root, and leaves from which a decoction calledPachana is obtained. A sort of extract called Palo is procured fromthe stem, and is considered an excellent remedy in urinary affectionsand gonorrhoea. Trans. M. and P. soc. Cole. iii. 298.766. C. palmatus DC. syst.i. 523. Hooker in Bot. mag.tt. 2970, 2971. Menispermum palmatum Lam. diet. iv. 99.Berry in as. research, x. 385. Thick forests on the shores ofOizo and Mozambique for 15 or 20 miles inland. (Kalumb orCalumba.)Root perennial, composed of a number of fasciculated, fusiform,somewhat branched, fleshy, curved, and descending tubers, of the thicknessof an infant's arm, clothed with a thin, brown epidermis, marked,towards the upper part especially, with transverse warts ; internallythey consist of a deep yellow, scentless, very bitter flesh, filled withnumerous, parallel, longitudinal fibres or vessels. Stems annual, herbaceous,1 or 2 proceeding from the same root, about the thickness ofthe little finger, twining, simple in the male plant, branched in thefemale, rounded, green fin the full-grown plant, below, thickly clothedwith succulent longitudinal hairs, which are tipped with a .gland.Leaves alternate, the younger ones thin, pellucid, bright green, generally3-lobed, upwards gradually more numerous ;older ones remote,a span in breadth, nearly orbicular in their circumscription, deeply369 B B