and unequally scvrate-lobulate; the base in aiiult leaves subtruncate to subcorJate. in
the young leaves deeply cordate, the upper surface glabrous exccpt the pubcrulous
luiddlc-ncrve, the lower when young densely covered with flexuous hairs deciduous
with age exccpt on the nerves, the secondary nerves rather prominent beneath ;
length l — l-o dm., breadth 1—1-25 dm., petiole 8—10 cm. long; injlorascencc a racemelike,
terniiiial or axillary rusty-toinentose panicle 8 — 10 era. long; tlie branchkts
cymose 2-flowcred, about 9 mm. long; flowers 5 mm. in diam., on pedicels slightly
longer than themselves ; sepals 5, oblong, subobtuse, pubescent on the nerves and
edges; petals o, oblanceolate-linear, glabrous except the pubescent claw; disk fleshy,
•with 8 lurge and 3 small quadrate lobes; stamens 8, inserted inside and between the
lobes of the disk; anthers oblong, minutely warted; the iilamenis slightly flattened,
glabrous; ovaru rusty-tomentose, styles glabrous 2-fid; fruit 3 em. lofig and the same
in breadth at the apex, the wings obliquely and broadly rhomboid-triangular, the outer
side of each the longest and the inner the shortest, slightly paberulous and witli bold
forking veins, the nueulo about 8 mm. in diam.
EASTERN HIMALAYA: Sikkim, Laehung, 11,000—12,500 ft.; Hooker! G. A. Gammk !
Phalut, 11,500 ft.; G. A. Gammie! Jongri, 12,000 ft.; King's Collectors!
This species has been confused with yl. pcctinatum Wall, and A. caniMum Wall.; it
is at once distinguished from both by its paniculate inflorescence—that of A. caudatum
being fasciculate, while that of /J. jogi/mai«« is a few-flowered, sioiple raceme. The wind's
of the samara of this are also rather broader than those of the other fcw.>. The disk of the
flower in this species has 8 large square lobes, but at two poinFs wliich stand opposite
to each other the disk has a fold ia it and hidden ia each of th"S3 folds there lies
a small lobe. The disk is thus really 10-Iobed, although at a superficial glance only
8 lobes are visible.
Pr,\TE 2I.—Aoor Papilb King. 1, flowering branch, from Plialut; 2, fruifciug tmg, from JoDgri,-
hnth of natural siss; 3, braeteole and bad; 4, flower; 5, flower, laid open; 6, stamens; 7, ovary;
8, samara with the faces o£ each nucule removed; 9, seed, not quite mature,—A« enlarged exccjil
fig. S, which ii of nai'iral
Q. K.
35. SPO.N-DIJS AX11,L;VKIS Roxh. Ilort, Bong. Si (18U).
Natural order Anacardiacea;.
An evergreen tree of the middle hill-forests in the Central and Eastern Himalaya,
jittaining a height of 30—3o metres, with a clear stem of 12—18 metres, 1 - 2 metres
in diam. at I'o metres above level of soil; bark brown or reddish, peeling in long
flakes; ivood dark-pink, reddening on exposure, soft but durable; leaties alternate,
imequally pinnate, 2-5—i dm. long, leaflefs 13—17, opposite except the tei'minal, ovatelanceolate,
base euneate on both sides or on lower side only and then rounded on the
upper, apex acuminate to caudate, margin ia leaves of young trees deeply gash-sen-ate,
in half-grown trees beginning to bear flowers and fruit wide-serrate, in full-grown trees
almost entire, 0—10 cm. long,, 3—3-35 cm. wide, slightly puberulous on tho nerves
Deneath in young trees, glabrous on both surfaces wiien full-grown except for a fetv
hairs in the angles of the main-nerves and midrib beneath, dark-green above, rather
paler beneath, nerves 6—8 pairs, not looped; flowers axillary or in axils of fallen leaves
along branches, solitai-y, or two more rarely three on same peduncle, 6 mm. across ;
peduncles 1 5 cm. long, slender, glabrous, pedicels 3 mm.; cahjx green, 5-fid, lobes acute
2Jeial3 5, white, elliptic, siibacute; stamens 10, filaments short, subulate; disc annular,
lO-lobed; ovarg 5-celled with o shoi-t erect styles; ovules solitary, pendulous; drapes
3 cm. long, 2 cm. in diam., oval, rounded at apes, yellow, edible; putamen 5-celled
with 5 eyes at top. lioxh. Flor. Lid. ii. 453 (1832); Hook. / . Flor. Brit. Ind. ii. 42
{1876;. S. acuminata Gamhle, Trees, etc., in the DarjscUng Dist. Ed. 3. 25 (1896) not of
yio.i'5.'Cedrcla Toona Gamhle, Man. Ind. Tirnb. 77 (1881); in part, not of Moxb. 0.
Toona VAR. 3. Lapshi Ganbls, Trees, et^., in Darjeeling Dist. 17 (1878). Cedrola
sp. Gamble, Trees, etc., in Darjeeling Dist. Ed. 2, 17 (1896). Poiipavtia axillaris Praia
Mss.
HIMALAYA: Nepal; Eamilion, ^lAq Roxhirgh. Sikkim; 1,000—3,000 f t . ; Garnmie!
Maimn ! King ! Boo tan, at Kalimpong, 4,500 f t . ; Gamble 7823 ! Dumsong, 3—4,000
f t . ; Prain ! KACUIN HILLS : Sima, Sadon, etc.; Prain''s collector I
This has long been a puzzling trco. It was known to have been introduced
from Nepal into tlie Calcutta Garden in 1802 by Df. Buchanan-Hamilton under
the Nepalese name ' Neema,' and though the des3riptii)u given in the Flora
Indict, ii. 453, is very brief, Roxburgh left an excellent drawing representing a tree
very neat Spondias in the structure oE flower, fruit and embryo. Roxburgh calls it
" a small beautiful il/eJi'a-looking tree," a description which the Nepalese name
'Neemci,' supplied by Buchanan-IIamiltoo, would suggest. Sir Joseph Hooker
remarks on the fact that though Roxburgh describss the leaflets as 'gash-serrate'
Le figures them as obtusely serrate. In this wo now know there is no real
discrepancy; the leaflets oE 8e3dlings are deeply 'gash-serrate ' and even in a 4-
years old plant they deserve to be so described ; the leaflet shown on Plate
25, fig. shows what all the leaflets on such a plant in the Calcutta Gardens
are like, while the leaflets shown on the same Plate, fig. 2, shows what all the
leaflets were like on the tree that yielded the seed from which the plant whose
leaflets were 'gash-serrate' was raised. This change in type of leaflet has however
probably had a good deal to do with the difficulty there has been in identifying
lioKburgh's S])ondias axillaris in the field ; collectors have expected to find a small
tree looking very like a 'Nim' {Melia), which is what it does look like while it is
still young. When full grown, however, it is a lofty tree that looks very like a
' T u n ' {Cedrcla) and, as has been shown by Gamble {Trees, Shrubs, etc., of tke
Varjcelinq District, p. 17), is often taken for a variety or perhaps distinct species
of 'Tun.'
There have been long known to be one or more trees, very like Tiin in
appearance and qualities, passing under the name Labshi or Lapshi in tho Sikkim
ILimalaya, whose botanical identity was highly doubtful. Of one of these, which
he terms Labshi, Gamble has distributed apecimens to various herbaria {Gamble n.
2-H^) under the tentative name ''Melia composita Willd", a species to which they
certainly cannot be referred because the leaves, though twice pinnate, have not got
the secondary rachisos opposed in pairs ; moreover all the leaflets are alternate.
I t has a rod wood with the appearance and odour oi Tan and has an edible
fruit, characters that it shares with Sponclias axillaris, but the foliage makes its
Ass. ROY. BOT. GARD, CALC., YOL. I S,