COMBRETACE^. 



Nat. syst. ed.2.p.38. 



TERMINALIA. 



Flowers often polygamous from abortion. Limb of tbe calyx 

 deciduous, campanulate, 5-cleft, the lobes acute. Petals wanting. 

 Stamens 10, in a double row, longer than the calyx. Ovary 

 2-3-ovuled. Style filiform, somewhat acute. Drupe not crowned 

 by the calyx, often dry, indehiscent, 1 -seeded. Seed almond- 

 like. Cotyledonss pirally convolute. — Trees or shrubs. Leaves 

 alternate or rarely opposite, sometimes crowded towards the 

 extremities of the branches. Flowers spiked : spikes racemose 

 or panicled, bisexual in the lower part of the spike, male in the 

 upper. W. and A. 



141. T. Chebula Retz obs. v. 31. Ttoxb. cor.pl. t. 197. DC. 

 prodr. iii. t. 12. Roxb. fl. ind. ii. 434. — Myrobalana chebula 

 Gozrtn. ii. t. 97. ? — Forests of Bengal. 



Trunk rarely straight, and but short for the size of the tree. Bark 

 in young trees of about 7 or 8 years' growth, of a light ash colour, and 

 slightly cracked ; their trunks are then from 2 to 3 feet in circumference 

 3 feet above ground. Branches many, spreading much in every direc- 

 tion, their extremities often drooping, and while young, downy. Leaves 

 opposite, or nearly so, short-petioled, oblong, entire, obtuse; while 

 young very downy on both surfaces, but when old underneath only; some 

 small glands on the margins near the base, and generally 2 on the edges 

 of the downy petioles near the apex; about 6 inches long and 3 broad. 

 Stipules none. Spikes in a terminal panicle or axillary, and then 

 generally undivided, downy. Flowers numerous, small, dull white, in 

 smell offensive (as in most, if not all the other species,)all hermaphrodite. 

 Bracts solitary, subulate, downy, 1-flowered. Calyx cup-shaped 

 5-toothed, very hairy, particularly the inside; with 5 very hairy glands in 

 its bottom surrounding the base of the style. Filaments 10, alternately 

 a little shorter, twice the length of the calyx. Anthers small, oval. 

 Ovary inferior, oval, hairy, l-celled, containing 2 ovules attached to the 

 top of the cell. Style rather shorter than the stamens. Stigma acute. 

 Drupe oval, about \\ inch long and 1 inch in diameter, smooth, of a 

 pale greenish-yellow, very obscurely 5-angled, l-celled. Pulp in consi- 

 derable quantity, hard and yellowish. Nut oblong, thick, and very hard, 

 with the surface rough ; irregularly and obscurely 5-grooved, l-celled. 

 Seed solitary, lanceolate. Integument membranous. Albumen none. 

 Embryo of the same shape as the seed, inverted. Cotyledons thin, 

 large, spirally rolled up round each other and the lower part of the 

 cylindrical superior radicle. — Galls powerfully astringent, as fit for 

 making ink as oak-galls ; they yield the chintz painters on the coast of 

 Coromandel their best and most durable yellow, lioxb. With a ferru- 

 ginous mud they strike an excellent black. 

 67 F 2 



