STUDIES IN THE GEEMINATION OF THREE 



INDIAN PLANTS. 



BY 



H. M. CHIBBER M.A., 



Professor of Botany, Gujarat College Ahmedabad India. 

 With Plate VIII. 



BARRINGTONIA ACUTANGULA Gaertn. 



(References: — T. Cooke, Flora of the Presidency of Bombay I, 496; 

 W. A. Talbot, Forest Flora of the Bombay Presidency and Sind 

 II, 47; Vernacular names — Tivar, Samudraphal.) 



Barringtonia acutangiila Gaertn. occurs in swampy places 

 throughout India. The tree is is of some economic importance. 

 The leaves and fruit are used in native medicine. The wood 

 according to Talbot is used for boat building, well-work, 

 carts etc., and it would make good furniture; it turns black 

 when buried in the mud. The plant occurs in swampy places 

 whether inland or littoral. Excepting Sind, it is recorded from 

 such habitats from all parts of the Bombay Presidency. 



Cooke mentions it 25 — 50 ft high. I have however never 

 found it to exceed a middle sized tree. The branches are as 

 a rule low enough to be reached by a man from the ground, 

 and the crown is rather spreading than erect and elongate. 

 The pendant long scarlet racemes which surround the crown 

 form a beautiful sight. 



The fruit is a fibrous brown nut looking like a diminutive 

 dry date. Four ridges, sometimes three, are seen to run along 

 its length from base to apex. They commence imperceptibly 

 at the base and terminate at the apex into four (or three) 



