286 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XV, 



Eugenia Jambolana, Lam. Jambul. 



The finest trees are 30 to 80 feet high, stem clear for 10 feet, girth 

 5 to 10 feet. Very common, specially in a stunted state. Fruit red- 

 dish, turning to black, with scanty, aromatic pulp. Some Europeans 

 make a cordial from these fruits. I observed that the trees on Sakar 

 Pathar were in ripe fruit, while those in the woods below were still in 

 flower. 



Melastomace^e. 

 Memecylon edule, Roxb. Anjan ; Lokhandi. 



Very common, usually forming thickets on the outskirts of the 

 woods. Height about 15 to 20 feet, stem clear from 2 to 8 feet, girth 1 

 to 2 feet ; wood very dense, bark dark brown, with close, shallow 

 tessellated furrows, trunk crooked and short, branches spreading and 

 twisting, leaves tea-like but entire. Flowers a beautiful dark blue 

 (or, in a solitary example, white) ; when the petals fall the remaining 

 parts are of a rose colour for some time. Not one of the numerous 

 plants of this species in these woods is infested with parasites, but at 

 Sakar Pathar it is attacked by a form of Loranthus cuneatus which has 

 leaves exactly simulating those of its host. I saw, however, one plant 

 of identically the same form on a Pisa (Actinodaphne Hookeri). 

 Memecylon sp. 



In the wood between Lonavla and Karla there is a Memecylon un- 

 known to me. It may be one of the new species indicated by Mr. Talbot. 

 The leaves are usually narrower than in M. edule ; the flowers are much 

 smaller and appear to be yellowish ; the calyx tube is deeper and the 

 ripe fruit is yellow. 



The natural reproduction of both species is excellent. The stems of 

 even very young seedlings have brown, detachable, thin bark and they 

 are as tough and supple as wire. 



Cacte^. 

 Opuntia nigricans, Haw. Prickly Pear. 



In small scattered clumps about Karla. In this plant the plane 

 surfaces of the branches face east and west, while the edges point north 

 and south. This is particularly noticeable when it is used as a hedge to 

 enclose all four sides of a compound as at many Travellers' Bungalows. 



Rubiace^:. 

 Stephegyne parvifolia, Korth. Kadam. 



A rare tree in Lonavla wood. Flowers in globose heads, subtended 

 by two loaf-like bract>. 



