IIAUIIINIA ANGüINA, CYNOMITRA POLYAXnUA, 84
Nns-fiit (snake charm,) ihe v
This : tlie I
OBSERVATIONS,
ixtraordinary as well of die
extensive ramblers I ha' of the
taiiious tracts in the vicinity of Siihet, Cliiltagong, kc. and the most
regularly serpentine pieces of the stems, and large branches,
arc carried about by our numerous mendicants, to keep serpents ojf.
Flowering about the end of the rains, and the seed ripen in the
cool season,
DESCRIPTION.
Slenis and large branches are flat, being from four to six inches
broad, and scarce half an inch thick ; when old the margins
become dotible, like the letter Y or T, and pretty straight,
whereas the body, or space between them is most regularly
fiexuose, with the flexures alternately convex and concave
Bark rather rough, and ill defined. Wood hard, but porous,
and nearly white. Branches and branchlcts bifarious, and
regularly alternate, from the flexures just mentioned.
Teni/n'/i simple, or bifid, permanent,
icflpw bifarious, alternate, petiolcd; on the older plant:
or nearly so, and round-cordate ; on young plant.s,
the luxuriant shoots more or less bifid, with the L.bes
and taper much to their points ; 5-7-nerved, smooth
sides ; from two to six inches each way.
/•(¡Mc/iiterminal, composed oflong, simpli
veiy small white flowers.
Calyx cup-shaped, unequally 5-toothcd.
Pdals five, obovate, short-clawed.
Slamina only three, and all fertile.
Gertn. short-pedicelled, oblong, inserted on th
large 2-Iobed gland, which occupies the centre of tl.e flower
one-celled, 2-seeded. fityle short. Sligma simple.
Legume oblong, thin, edges even, apex a small recurved point,
both sidessmooth, about two inches long, by one broad, one
celled.
Seeds one or two, two most common, oval, with an obtuse poini
on the anterior upper part, which is formed by the radicle
compressed, smooth. Integimmts in the recent state single.
Albumen in considerable quantity in the fresh seed
Embryo curved, &c. as in the order.
,d on
both
n o f a
286. CYNOMETRA POLYANDRA.
Leaves pinnate. Branchlits floriferous. Flowers polyandrous.
OBSERVATIONS.
Peing, the vernacular name in Siihet, and the adjacent mountain
forests, where it grows to be a very large, and useful timber tree.
Flowering time March and April; and the seed ripen during the
rains, viz. in J u l y and August, and are eaten by the natives of the
hilly countries where they grow.
DESCRIPTION.
Young shoots flexuose, round, and smooth.
Leaves alternate,^subsessile, abruptly-pinnate, about six inches
long, Leaflets 1^0 or three, rarely four pair, sessile, opposite,
unequally-oblong, or broad-lanceolate, entire, emarginatc,
firm, and glossy : about three inches long, and from one to
one and a-half broad.
Stipules eiisiform.
Corymbs axillary, single, or in pairs, sessile, simple, shorter than
the leaves. Peduncles and pedicele nearly equal in length,
clothed with ferruginous down,
Bractes from ovate, at the insertion of the pediceles and round the
base of the comtaon peduncles, to filiform on the pediccles.
Floxoers large, yellow.
Cfl/yj:4-leaved; /My^cij oppo.site, rather unequal,oval, entire, thin,
smooth, coloured, soon become reflexed.
Petals five, lanceolar, nearly equal, inserted between the calyx
and stamina,
Filamerils 40-60 ; rather longer than the petals, united into something
like a ring round the base of the pcdicele of the germ.
Anthers roundish.
Gem pedicelled, superior, obliquely oblong, one-celled, and
contains one, rarely two ovula, attached to the upper margin
of its cell. Style, curved, but the direction alters according
to the length of time the flower has been expanded. Sligma
enlarged.
Legume fleshy, 2-S inches long, by about two broad, sub-semilunar
tuberclcd, light brown, one-celled.
Seed solitary, rarely two, sub-reniform, compressed. Integument
single, smooth, a little veined.
Albumm none.
Embryo conform to the seed. Radicle oblong, immersed, centrifugal.
In short ill all respects very like the legume, &c. of
Cynometra caulifioia. O^t. sem. 2. p. S50,
287. STERCULTA ALATA.
Leaves cordate, entire, B-5 nerved. Racemes crowded about the
ends of the branchlcts, length of the petioles. Follicles subrotund.
Seeds numerous, winged.
OBSERVATIONS,
A native of the countries immediately to the east of Bengal,
where it grows to be a large, handsome, very ramous tree.
Flowering time in the Botanic Garden, February and March, and
the seed ripen about the close of the year. In the province of
Chittagong tlie tree is called Buddh-narculla, which may be translated
Buddha's Coco-nut. Narikella being oneof the Sanscrit names
of the Coco-nut. In Silhetil is callcd Toolah, and there the seeds
are said to be eaten by the natives as a cheap substitute for opium.
DESCRIPTION.
Trunk [ill trees twenty-five years old, now growing in the Botanic
Garden at Calcutta,) straight, tall, four feet above the ground
three feet and a half in circumference. Bark quite smooth,
and ash-coloured. Branches numerous, toward the top of
the tree asccnding, below divaricate. In its native soil they
arrive at a much greater size ; viz. tenfeet in circumference,
and above one hundred feet high.
Leaves alternate, about the ends of the branchlcts, petioled,
cordate. entire smooth 3-5-nerv •ed; from . foui - to twelve
:hes Ic mg, and from three tc > eight broad. Dcciduous
about the tinie the blossoms appe Febniarv and March.
Petioles : round. smooth, from one to foi ches long.
Stipules minuti subulate, caducous at •ly pc riod.
Rocmes aNillai •y, sometimes terminal. then sub. •panic :led, but the
•St com 1 paijr s froi n ihe axils of the
for mer y< :ar's leaves toward the end <,f th e bra nchleis, and
ab. >ut as 1lo ng as the petioles, or in ore ; deri selyi clothed with
fer us, stellate pubescence.
Flowers pretty large, short-pedicellcd, reflc ale ar id female on
Bractes ensifni m, three under each jio wer. and c :aduc. 3US at a very
ly per, iod.
Calyx c: impani ilate, divided nearly to the base. into five, thick,
flei diy. rt ;curvcd, lanceolar segm side ( ;lothed with
fer rugini. us, stellate pubescence side elega utly striated
Corol n
tnd yel
MALE HERMAPHRODITE FLOWERS.
Column of the abortive fructification, and stamina cylindric,
shorter than the calyx, straight.
Filaments scarce any. Anthers imbricated in five fascicles c
five eacl., which imite below the middle, and forrr
round the five imperfect germs.
FEMALE HERMAPHRODITE FLOWERS.
;sile bundles of imper
of the base of the gerr
ingly s,
•s capsules fro:
> tha infan 5 head,
•celled, one-valved; valve thick, tough,
jrface densely clothed with a brownish-
Styles shoit, rec
emarginate.
Follicles, or rather U
size of a man's
long-peduiitled,
and very fibrou,
olive, mealy pubescei
Seeds many, attached to the margins of the valve, oblong, considerably
com|)res5ed, each terminated by a long, broad,
spongy wing, (hcnce the specific name), which becomes thin,
and sub-membianaceoHs at the apex, hteguments three ;
exterior a brown, friable, spongy body, which with a few
fibres form the wing ; middle., or second hirm, an oval nuciform
envelope for the embryo only, (andseems compo.^ed of three
parts ; the exterior and Interior thin, brown, and friable, and
the middle part thicker, tough and hard,) interior a thin
membrane.
Albumen none.
Embryo: Cotyledons equal, confoni
2-!obed, Radicle patellifon
the umbilicus, (relative «n/rij
zed. Plumula
itely within
288. VATERIA INDICA.
Leaves alternate, oblong, entire, smooth, coriaceous. Panicles
Viteria indica. Linn.sp.pl. 734. G^t. sem. i. p. r,3. t. 189.
Elasocarpus copalliferus Retx. Obs. 4. p. 21. Linn. spec.plant,
edit. Witld. 2. p. 11 70. Vahl. symb. 3. p. 67 ?
Paenoe. Rheed mal. A. p. 33, t. 15.
OBSERVATIONS.
A very large and handsome tree, a native of Malabar. In the
Bidanore country, where my specimens are from, it is called the
Dammer tree, and blossoms during the liot season. Seed ripe in
August.
DESCRIPTION,
Young shoots ill the tender parts, except the leaves, covered
with fine stellate pubescen
Leaves alicrnate, petioled, obb
1 two rows of ovules
angle of the cell,
rather broad, and
tire, from emarginate, to
:ed, smooth, coriaceous, from four to eight inches
long, :ind from two to four broad.
Petioles round, about an inch long.
Stipules oblong, caducous.
Panicles terminal ; ramificalims rather remote.
Flowers-mhti i emote, pedicelled, pretty large.
Bractes oblong, one flowered, caducous.
Calyx to the base 5-cleft; divisions oblong, obtuse, villoits on the
oi.tside,
Corol 5-petalled, contorted. Petals oytX. emarginate, broader, but
very little longer than the divisions of the calyx.
Filaments 40-50, short, broad, inserted between the petals, and
the base of the germ. Anthers linear, witli a single filiform
beak.
Pistil. Germ above, conic, downy, (one-celled with the rudiments
of three or four seeds.) &ye longer than the stamens. Sti-rma
simple, truncatc.
Pericarpi,m: a coriaceous, fleshy, oblong, obtuse, one-celled,
3-valved capsule; general sire about two and a half inches
long, and one and a half in diameter.
Seed solitary, shape of the capsule.
NoTF.,—In all the flowers examined by me, the stamina had
uniformly short, broad filaments, and linear anthers terminating
in a single, tapering, acute thread, or soft bristle. Can Kcenig's
Ceylon tree with two bristles be the same? The superior calyx
of Rctzius I must consider a mistake.
ROYDSIA.
POLYANDRIA MONOGYNIA. Seel. Apetalotn.
GENERIC CHARACTER.
Calyx inferior, 6-partcd. {Corol none.) Stamina on a columnar
receptacle. Germ pedicelled (above the insertion of the