Cayratia roxburghii Gagnepain in Notul. Syst. (Paris) 1: 346. 1911, p.p. excl. Vitis roxburghii Wight & Arn.; Shetty & P. Singh in Kew Bull. 44: 470. 1989. Cissus roxburghii Planchon in DC., Monogr. Phan. 5: 572. 1887. Vitis roxburghii M. Lawson in Fl. Brit. India 1: 655. 1875, nom. illegit., non V. roxburghii Wight & Arn., 1834 (=Cissus feminea Roxb.).

Climbing shrubs; branches terete, striate, glabrous, smooth, glaucous; tendrils wiry, simple or forked at tip. Leaves 3-foliolate, glabrous; petioles 3-5.5 cm long; terminal leaflets elliptic-Ianceolate, rounded or acute at base, undulate-dentate at margins; 10-16 x 4-6 cm, acuminate at apex, lateral leaflets 10-13 x 3.5-5.5 cm, long, oblique at base, margins and apex as in the terminal leaflets. Inflorescences dichotomous, cymose, ca 5 cm long; peduncles ca 2.5 cm long. Flowers ca 3 mm long; peduncles 1.5-2.5 cm long; glabrous; pedicels ca 2 mm long. Calyx cupular, truncate. Petals ca 2 x 1 mm. Stamens ca 1.5 mm long. Disc fleshy, covering ovary. Ovary ca 1.5 mm across; style subulate; stigma minute. Berries ca 1 cm across, 2-4-seeded. Seeds ca. 7 x 5 mm; adaxial surface with a circular pit, abaxial surface convex with a spatulate chalaza.

Fl. & Fr. : May - Nov.

Distrib. India: Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

Sri Lanka (?).

Notes. This species was thought to be represented by only the type specimens collected from the Tirunelvelly hills in Tamil Nadu (Vajravelu in Pl. Conserv. Bull. 4: 23. 1983; Ramamurthy in Nair & A.N. Henry, Fl. Tamil Nadu sere 1. 1: 80. 1983). There are, however, some other collections of this species in MH collected from Tamil Nadu and Kerala, most of which had been wrongly identified as Cissus trilobata Lam. The specimens resemble Cayratia roxburghii in having 3-foliolate, glabrous leaves and a circular pit on the adaxial surface of the seeds.

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