TREES & SHRUBS OF LONAVLA & KARLA GROVES. 281 



from the valves. The silk cotton tree in flower is the glory of the 

 •country along the railway line from Khandala to Talegaon at the begin- 

 ning of the hot weather. As a rule it never attains a great size. 

 When the separate whorls of branches are at sufficiently distant inter- 

 vals, it is interesting to observe that each section of stem does not taper 

 so that the trunk is formed on the plan of an inverted telescope. The 

 flowers vary much in form and colour, the most common being of a vivid 

 red with broad petals, the rarer almost salmon with long, strap-shaped 

 petals. The cotton is usually glistening white and I have once seen it of 

 a pale buff colour. 



Its congener B. insigne, Wall., which is so common in the forests below 

 ghats only ascends them as far as the Reversing Station. Some indi- 

 viduals of this species are densely armed to the base, others are quite 

 unarmed ; thus, as in the case of many so-called armed trees this cha- 

 racter is safely negligible. The tubercles bearing the prickles are corky 

 and distinctly lamellate, so that the layers can be separated by the pres- 

 sure of the thumb. The prickles are single or arranged in ranked clus- 

 ters. The leaves are often very hairy beneath even when old. The 

 flowers are not arranged in groups as in B. Malabarkum, but singly 

 along the branches, their petals are usually long and strap-shaped, 

 varying in colour from light orange to dark red : the stamens form a 

 dense tassel of innumerable, long, white thread-like filaments. In many 

 respects this is the noblest flower to be found in the Presidency. 



The fruit is almost double the length of that of B. Malabarkum and 

 it is distinctly angular. (The dehiscence in both is septifragal and not 

 loculicidal as given in Floras.) The axis and dissepiments of the fruit 

 often remain on the branches and revolve in the wind like children's toy 

 paper mills. (This is a rare occurrence in B. Malaharicum, but I have 

 observed it.) The cotton appears to be always of a drab colour and a 

 pod often contains a large quantity. 



After the fruits ripen and fall away the silk cottons put forth their 

 leaves. The fallen flowers carpet the ground for months, becoming 

 almost black, and are reduced by shrinkage to less than a third of their 

 original size. 



Sterculiace^. 



Sterculia guttata, Rcxb. Kukar. 



A densely leafy tree. The fruits, which are in clusters of woody 

 follicles, are very interesting when they open out, showing a yellow 

 inner surface and large seeds attached to the margins. 



