2-14. EURYALE FEROX.
Euryale ferox. Snlisb. in annals of bet. 2. p. H.Hort. Ketv. ed. 2.
y. 3./)- 296.
A n nesIca s pi iios¡1, Andrcwi's reposit. 618.
D E S C R I P T I O N .
Root consists of numerous, thick, fleshy fibres, whicli descend
deep into the soil at the bottom of the water che plant
grows in.
Skm none.
Leaves radical, wiih petioles sufEciendy long to admit of their
floating on tlic surface of ihc water, peUatc, from orbicular
to oval, entire, up|)er surface dull green, with ferrnginous
>-eins, and armed with but few, very slender prickles; underneath
a most beauufiil purple, and there reticulated with
numerous, very large, proininent, dichotornous, finally
anastomosing veins; armed with long, straight, very sharp,
tolerably strong spines: size from one to four feet each way.
Pclioks round, and also armed widi straight spines.
Peduncles radical, one-Uovvered, round, and also armed M'ith
straight spines ; if the water is shallow, they are generally
so long as to elevate the flower above its sur face; but if deep
they blossom under water.
Flowers small for tlie size of the plant, colour a lovel y blue violet.
Cali/x four-leaved, inserted on the crown of the germ, armed on
the outside with recurved spines; inside smooth, and
coloured.
COTOL petals about twentv, narrow, ovate-oblong, the exterior ones
n e a r l y as large as the calyx, gradually lessening till they
become very small, and nearly colourless next to the.stamens.
FHameuls numerous, and like the petals, lessening toward the
centre. Anthers oval.
Fislil. Germ beneath, ovate, armed. Style none. Sligvta cupshaped,
with the margin only sligluly marked with six or
eight elevations.
Berry size of a goose egg, armed, irregularly ovate. The internal
divisions obscure, and irregular.
Seeds, or rather nuts, about twenty, nearly round, size of a small
cherry, each enveloped In its own, proper, coloured aril.
OBSERVATIONS.
I s a native of the sweet-water lakes, and ponds, over Tipperah.
ChUtagmg, kc. to the eastward of Calcutta ; where it blossoms
most part of the year, and is known lo the natives of those countries
by the lume Mackannah.
T h e seeds are farinaceous, much liked by the natives, and sold
in the public bazars to the eastward of the mouths of the Ganges,
where the plant Is indigenous The preparation to fit them for
(he table is as follow.?: A quantity of sand is put Into an earthen
vessel, placed over a gentle fire. In the sand they put a quantity
of the seed, agitate the vessel or the sand with an iron ladle
uiuil the seed swells to more than double its original size, when
it becomcs light, white, and S|)ongy ; dui ing the openi t ion the hard
husk of (he seed breaks in various parts, and then readily separates
b y r t i b b i n g between two boards, or by striking gently with a
board. The Hindoo Physicians consider those seeds to be pos-
EURYAJ.F. PEROX. 40
sessed of powerful medical virtues ; such as restraining seminal
gleets, invigorating the system, ¡cc. &c.
E X P L A N A T I O N OF THE FIGURES.
Fig. I. Two of tlie leaves, smaller than they generally are, the
\inder surface of the anterior one is represented, and
the lower edge of the upper surface of the posterior one.
2. Part of the flower-stalk, and flower in its usual state of
expansion.
3. A vertical section of a flower.
4. The same of the seed vessel.
5. A transverse section.
6. The seed enclosed in its aril.
7. The same without the aril.
8. A vertical scction of the same.
Except the two leaves, all the rest are of thei r natural size.
COLEBROOKEA.'
Smith Exot.bot.i.p. 111.
D I D Y N A M I A GYMNOSPERIMA.
G E N E R I C CHARACTER.
Aggregate. Covimon peiianlh imbricated. Pru/ífr beneath, fivec
l e f t . CorolUU one-petalled, irregular. Oemu four. Seeds
from one to four. Receptacle naked-
245. COLEBROOKEA TERNIFOLIA.
Shrubby, erect. Leaves three or four-fold, lanccolate, obtusely
.serrulate.
D E S C R I P T I O N ,
Trunk (in three and four year old plants, of about five feet in
height,) short, woody. Bark light brown, and pretty smooth.
Branches three or four-fold, ascending young shoots downy.
Leaves three and four-fold, petiolcd, drooping, lanceolate, serrate,
soft, with much very fine down, from four to six inches
long, and from one to two broad.
Petioles round, very downy, about an inch long.
Slij>iiles none.
Panicles terminal, erect, composed of generally three-fold, cylindric,
amentaceous spikes, closely covered with numerous,
minute, aggregate, white flowers-
Galyx. Common perianth, 10-20 leaved, many-flowered, imbricated,
permanent. Properperianlh deeply five-p;incd ; divisions
subulate, nearly as long as the florets, clothed with
much, long, soft, fine, whi t e wool. These divisions lengthen
much, and become more woolly by the time the seeds are
ripe ; giving to the anients, or ramifications of the p.nicle,
a mucii larger, and more woolly appearance, than when in
blossom, as represented at fig, 8.
Carol:UnivermU(\\rA. Pro/;«'inonopctalous. Tube shan. Border
f o u r - p a r t e d ; upper division cmarginate ; the other thiec
ovate, of which the middle one is longer and bro;idcr.
Filaments four, of which two arc shorter. Anthers .stnidl.
r llourj Coltbroolic,• T)ic goniis is Iittmocl ColobrooJrea, i Esii. iviiuss
wlcdgcin Dk: >icicnccjiislly aciTiiiiKl> this tributo,
41
PisiU. Germs four, luiiry. Style the undivided part the length of
the tube of the corol, and seems composed of two portions,
as i n Perilla. Sligma two-cleft, and about as long as the undivided
part of the style.
Pericarp none.
Seeds from one to four, but general ly one, and then nearly oval, or
round, and hairy; when more than one tliey adhere slightly
to each oilier; the long woolly segments of the calyx readily
carries them with the wind to a great distance.
Receptacle m\icd. flat.
O B S E R V A T I O N S .
A native Mysore, from whence the seeds were sent by Dr.
Buchanan, to the Botanic Garden at Calcutta, where the shrub
blossoms during the months of February and March.
E X P L A N A T I O N OF THE FIGURES.
Fig. 1. Outside of the common calyx.
2. Inside of the same, and the disk of the receptacle.
3. One of the florets.
4. The proper cnlyxlaid open, which expo.ses the pistil to
5. A floret: laid open.
6. The four ripe seeds, with the enlarged woolly calyx.
I t , however, rarely happens that more than one of die
•seeds ripen.
As at fig. 7. the other three are abortive, and appear like
thi ee hairy scales at tlie base of the ripe seed.
8. A small ramification of the panicle, where the seeds are
r i p e .
GMELIN'A .^RBOIÍEA, 42
246. GMELINA ARBOREA.
Arborous, unarmed. Leaves cordate, entire, downy. Panicles
terminal.
Gumbharee, the Sanscrit name.
Gumhar, or Gumaar Asiat. reiear. G.p. 366.
Gumhar, of the Hindoos.
Cumbulu. Rheed. mal. 1. 41.
Goomady, of the Tarauls.
Tagoomoodu, of the Telingas.
Jugani-chookor. of the Bcngalese.
D E S C R I P T I O N .
Trnnk nearly straight, and of great size, for I have seen logs of
the wood thirty feet long, and three square. Bark ashcolouied,
in young trees smooth. Branches long, spre.iding,
and drooping, in every direction. Some trees in the Botanic
Garden at Calcutta, of only four years growth, had trunks
1S inches in circumference, four and a half feet above ground,
and were high in proportion.
Leaves oppo.siie, pefioled, cordate, pointed, entire, above a little
downy, below mudi so, and very soft; length from four to
eight inchcs, and from three to six broad : deciduous about
the beginning of the cool season, and appear again with the
flowers in March and April. In young trees the leaves are
larger than in the old ; it is a luxuriant branchlet of a young
tree that is figured.
FelioUs from two to four inches long, round and downy.
Paniclcs terminal, and from the e.<tcrior axills every part clothed
with soft d own ; composed of simple, decussated branches.
Bracles opposite, lanceolate, villous,
Flowers opposite, short pedicclled, drooping (though not well represented
so in the figure,) large, of a dull ferruginous yellow
colour.
Ca/yx small, obscurely four or five-toothed.
Corol. Tube obliquely campannlate. Border unequally four-parted;
u p p e r division shorter and bifid ; the under greatly longer,
and concave.
Filaments, both paiis incurvate. Anthers bifid from the base.
Style length of the filaments. Stigma of two, uneqtial, spreading,
acute lobes.
Drupe, size of a large olive, roundish-oval, smooth, when ripe
yellow. jYut single, hard, with from one to four one-seeded
cells, but it rarely happens that all the four ripen.
A large timber
of Lidia. Flowe
O B S E R V A T I O N S .
e the beginning of the hot s«
T h e wood is so very like Teak, as to have been brought to Calcutta
for such, it is, however, lighter, and lighter coloured, and
void of the bitter taste, and sraell peculiar to Teak. It is used by
the natives for various purposes.
Specimens taken from a very large log. which were kept three
years in the r iver Hoogly, a little above low water mark ; where
the worms [Teredo ,iavalis) are thought to be most destructive,
have been deposited in the Honourable East India Company's
Musetnn at the India House, to shew how completely tJiis wood
resisted the wortn, so destructive to almost every other sort in
similar situations. And before I left Itidia, similar specimens
-were also presented to the Governor General , the Marqui s Well
e s l e y ; and to ^rr. Thornhi l l , the master-attendant, with the
v i ew of having it tried in various ways in ship-building. From
the same log the above mentioned specimens were taken, which
was about 30 feet long, and about three square ; and brought from
the skirts of the mountains north of Patna. I causcd two valve
flood-gates to be made, to keep the tides out of the Botanic
Garden : other similar gates made of Teak were in use in other
placcs of the garden for the same purpose ; and after very fair
trials, the Goomar wood had evidently the advantage, as they remained
sound and entire in every part, while those ol Teak began
to decay about the edges. There is therefore reason to think, it
will prove a valuable acquisition to the marine yard ; and I trust
there will soon be fair, and sufliciently extensive experiments
made with it, both for planking, and .square, straight, and crooked
timbers. At Calcutta these are particularly wanted, as the Sissoo.
now in use, is not so durable as the Teak used on the Malabar
coast; and it is thought that the ships built at Calcutta, arc not so
durable as the Bombay ships on that account alone. It is therefore
needless to enlarge on the value of a substitute that will last as
long as the Teak plank on the outside, lo the shipping interest of
Calcutta at least, until the Teak tree Is sufficiently plenty in
Bengal, a period, I hope, not very distant, as it is now very
generally and successfully cultivated over many parts of that
country, where it thrives remarkably well. The largest trees in
the Botanic Garden at Calcutta were, in 1804, about nineteen
or twenty years old; they had then trunks from 42 to 4'1 inches