FLACOURTIACEvE. 



Nat. syst. ed. 2. p. 70. 



CHAULMOOGRA. 



Dioecious. $ . Calyx 4-5-lobed. Petals 5, with a scale 

 at the base of each. ? . Calyx and corolla as in the male. 

 Ovary superior, 1 -celled, with numerous ovules upon 5 parietal 

 placentas ; styles 5. Fruit succulent, dry, 1 -celled, many-seeded. 



222. C. odorata Roxb.fi. hid. iii. 836. — Silhet. 



Trunk and large branches covered with tolerably smooth, ash- 

 coloured bark ; young shoots, round, smooth and green. Wood light 

 brown, close-grained. Leaves short-stalked, alternate, bifarious, droop- 

 ing, lanceolate, entire, acuminate, smooth, from 6 to 10 inches long, 

 and from li to 2h broad; stipules none. Peduncles from the sides of 

 the ligneous branchlets of from one to several years' growth, generally 

 several together, from 1 to 2 inches long, 1 -flowered. Bracts minute 

 round the base of the peduncles. Male flowers li inch in diameter, 

 when expanded, of a pale yellow, and powerfully fragrant. Calyx 

 1 -leaved, bowl-shaped ; border from 4 to 5 lobed. Petals 5, sessile- 

 oblong, inserted into the receptacle round the filaments. Disk 5 

 ciliate, oblong scales, or smaller petals of a deeper yellow colour, over 

 the lower half of the true petals, and attached to them. Filaments 

 about 100, woody, inserted into the disk. Anthers linear, erect, about 

 the length of the filaments, 2 together, rather shorter than the petals. 

 Ovary none. Female on a distinct tree. Peduncles in bundles from 

 tuberosities over the trunk, and larger branches, 1 -flowered as in the 

 male. Flowers larger than the male ones, and fragrant. Stamens 

 none; but round the base of the ovary are inserted about 10 pinnatifid, 

 villous bodies. Ovary superior, round, slightly 5-lobed, 1-celled, con- 

 taining numerous ovules attached to 5 parietal receptacles. Styles_5, 

 shorter ; stigmas large, sagittate-cordate. Berry globular, of the size 

 of a shaddock, 1-celled. Rind thick, rough, ash-coloured on the sur- 

 face, internally brown, and composed of rajs pointing to the centre of 

 the berry. Seeds numerous, of the size of large filberts, immersed in 

 pulp, various in shape, but in general nearly oval, smooth, light grey. 

 Albumen conform to the seed, fleshy, of a whitish gray. Embryo 

 white. Cotyledons sub-reniform. — Seeds employed extensively by 

 the natives of India in the cure of cutaneous disorders. When freed 

 from the integuments they are beaten up with clarified butter, into a 

 soft mass, and in this state applied thrice a day to the parts affected. 

 Chaulmoogra and Petarkura are the native names. Roxb. 



223. Hydrocarpus venenata Gcertn. i. 288. t. 60. f. 3, a 

 Cingalese plant related to this order, bears a poisonous fruit, 

 which when eaten, occasions giddiness and dangerous intoxica- 

 tion. 



109 



