Castanea, MONOECIA POLYANDRIA, 643 
- 
CASTANEA. Schreb. gen. N. 1448: 
Male calyx none. Corol five-petalled. Stamina from 
ten totwenty., Female calyx from five to six-leaved, muri- 
cate. Corol none. Germ inferior, three-celled; cells one- 
seeded; attachment inferior, Stigmas penciliform. Nuts 
from one to three, inclosed in the echinate involucre. Em- 
bryo inverse, without perisperm. 
1. C. Indica. Roxb. 
Leaves oblong, acute, mucronate-serrate, polished above, 
hoary underneath. Aments sub-terminal, panicled, Flow- 
ers polygamous. ; 
Nikari, the vernacular name in Silhet. 
A small tree, a native of the hilly frontier districts east of 
Bengal. It flowers during the months of November and 
December, and the seed ripens in from eight to ten months 
afterwards. The kernels are eaten by both natives and Eu- 
ropeans, and may be compared to indifferent filberts, 
Trunk tolerably straight, growing to such a size as to ad- 
mit of the wood, which is of a good quality, being used for 
various purposes. Branchlets downy. Leaves alternate, 
short-petioled, from oblong to broad lanceolate, acute, gross- 
ly mucronate-serrate, polished on the upper surface, soft 
with brownish down underneath ; veius simple, parallel, and 
equal in number with the serratures,each ending in the sharp — 
points thereof, from four to eight inches long, by from two to 
four broad. Stipules ensiform. Aments or spikes, terminal 
and axillary, panicled, alternate, filiform, downy, those with 
male flowers more numerous, those with hermaphrodite few 
and thicker, of an offensive smell, MaLe rLoweErs collect- 
ed in small bundles over the spikes. Calyx generally six- 
leaved ; leaflets oval, very woolly. Filaments twelve, longer 
than the calyx. Anthers round-oval, Hermaphrodite flow- 
ers generally solitary, and scattered over every part of their 
spikes, rarely any male flowers with them, ‘Sometimes two 
4c2 
