110
94
G. A. C. HERKLOTS
an illuminant. A purgative is prepared from the bark and sap" (7) p. 184. The sap of this species has purgative properties and externally applied, allays the poisonous effects of skate fish stings. The oil from the seeds is used for the treatment of scabies." (7) p. 204.
ILLUSTRATION. Figure 4, depicts a branch with leaves and fruits and flowers (inset), all half natural size.
FLOWERING PERIOD.- -May and later summer months.
DISTRIBUTION.-Edge of Mangrove swamps and on the sea-shore in India, Malay Archipelago, Pacific Islands, South China, etc.
LOCALITIES.-Sea shore Hong Kong island, and other islands and mainland,
--common.
REFERENCES.-(1) Bentham (2) D. and T. (7) Watson.
STROPHANTHUS, DC.
Calyx with a few glands inside at the base of the sepals. Corolla- tube cylindrical, usually enlarged at the top; the lobes very long and linear, somewhat broader at the base, with 2 scales at the mouth of the tube opposite each lobe. Anthers sagittate, included in the tube, cohering to the stigma. Disk none. Ovary of 2 distinct carpels, united by a single style, with several ovules in each. Fruit of 2 thick follicles horizontally diverging. Seeds with a terminal coma of long silky haris. Erect or climbing shrubs, the branches usually dichotomous. Leaves opposite. Flowers rather large, in short terminal cymes."
DISTRIBUTION.—A small genus, dispersed over the tropical regions of the Old World.
417.
STROPHANTHUS, DIVERGENS, Grah.
"S. divergens, Grah. in Maund. Bot. iii. t. 150; A. DC. Prod. viii. An erect, dichotomous, glabrous shrub, Leaves elliptical-oblong, shortly acuminate and mucronate, 2 to 3 in. long, narrowed into a petiole of 2 or 3 lines. Fowers terminal, solitary or few together in sessile trichotomous cymes Sepals narrow-lanceolate or linear, about 5 lines long. Corolla-tube about 1⁄2 in. long, with a short campanulate throat; the scales about 11⁄2 lines long; the lobes lanceolate at the base, ending in narrow- linear points, full 2 in. long when full-grown. Follicles hard and woody, very divergent, 4 to 6 in. long and very thick. Seeds ending in a long point, with a beautiful coma of very long silky hairs."
Bentham loc. cit. p. 220.
This shrub, or climbing shrub,is extremely abundant in Hong Kong and the Colony and is well known to most residents either on account of its sinister looking flowers or its large and curious fruits. The 5 long, narrow, pendulous, pointed and somewhat twisted petals pale yellow in colour streaked with red at the base, are quite unlike these of any other local flower. They may be more than 3 inches long when fully developed. The fruits are equally striking, a pair of thick, hard, and woody follicles
The Hong Kong Naturalist.
The Hong Kong Naturalist.
Vol. III, No. 2,
Plate 19.
Strophanthus divergens.
Printed by S.C.M. Post.
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