Phytocrene
(from phyton, a plant, and krene, a fountain; alluding to the quantity of sap which flows from the plants when cut). SYN. Gynocephala. ORD. Olacineae. A genus comprising about five species of tall, stove, climbing or twining shrubs, abounding in limpid juice (which is drunk by the natives of Martaban), natives of tropical Asia. Flowers villous, small, the female heads solitary, larger than the paniculate male heads. Leaves alternate, entire or palmately lobed. The wood of these plants is soft and porous, and of peculiar structure. P. gigantea, the East Indian Fountain-tree, is the only species introduced. It is a stove climber, of no particular horticultural value.