Flora Medica

MENISPERMACEJE.cordate, 5- to 7-lobed, the lobes entire, often deflexed, wavy on thesurface and margin, dark green above, paler beneath ; hairy on bothsides ;the nerves according to the number of lobes, are 3, 7, or 9, pale,connected by veins which, in themselves, are reticulated, prominentbeneath. Petiole about as long as the leaf, rounded, glanduloso-pilose,thickened below. $ plant. Racemes axillary, solitary, or 2 together,drooping, compound, covered with glandular hairs. Sepals glabrous.$ Racemes . axillary, solitary, simple, spreading, shorter than those ofthe male. Fruit drupaceous or berried, about the size of a hazel nut,densely clothed with long spreading hairs, tipped with a black oblonggland. Boyer. The root is a valuable and excellent tonic, havingaromatic qualities, but mucilaginous and not acting as a stimulant. Ithas the power of checking sympathetic vomiting, in female pregnancy,the dentition of children, diseases of the kidneys, &c. It is also usedwith advantage in the latter stages of dysentery, in habitual diarrhoea,and in a languid state of the stomach. Mr. Pereira says it is of alltonics the least likely to disagree with the stomach. The infusionis the form in which it is usually exhibited, but it must be kept fresh, asit rapidly undergoes decomposition.PEREIRIA.Dioecious. J Outer . sepals 3, very short and scale-like, butpermanent; the 3 inner much longer. Sterile stamens 6, ofwhich 3 surround the base of the ovaries. Styles slender, recurved.Drupes 3 to each flower, succulent, placed in a roundheadedreceptacle which is elevated on a long stout peduncle.Albumen 2-celled. Embryo inverted, with very thin foliaceouscotyledons, which are wide apart from each other and piercedwith numerous small holes. A climbing plant, with the habitof Menispermum. Flowers in small globular heads. Pedunclesof the flowers short, but lengthened and thickened very muchfor the fruit.Drupes villous.767. P. medica. - Menispermum fenestratum G&rtn. fr.i. 219. t. 46. f. 1. DC. syst. i. 451. Roxb. Fl. Ind. iii. 809.Ceylon. (Woniwol, Venivel, or Bangwellgetta. Ceyl.)Trunk and large branches scandent, stout, thick, and ligneous. Thewood of a deep, lively yellow colour, andofa pleasant bitter taste. Leavesalternate, petioled, cordate, entire, 5- or 7-nerved, smooth and shiningabove, very hoary underneath, sometimes acuminate, sometimes obtuse ;generally from 3 to 9 inches long, and from 2 to 6 broad. In youngplants frequently peltate. Petioles shorter than the leaves, round,downy. Female umbellets, or heads, from the stout, naked, ligneousbranches, several from the same bud, on thick, round, downy peduncles,of about an inch in length. Flowers numerous, sub-sessile, villous, ofan obscure green. Bracts of the umbellets obscure; those of theflowers 3 or 4, reniform, villous, pressing close on the calyx. Calyx6-leaved ;the 3 exterior sepals oval, small, very downy on the outside,permanent ; the 3 interior ones considerably longer. Petals 6, small,short, sterile filaments, 3 embracing the base of the ovaries, very downy.Styles slender, recurved. Berries, from 1 to 3 come to maturity,370