Ximenia, octandrca monogynia. 253 



small, many of them male. Calyx below, small, generally 

 four-toothed, though sometimes five-toothed. Petals four 

 or five, corresponding with the number of toothlets in the 

 calyx, oblong, campanulate, with the upper half revolute, 

 very hairy on the inside. Filaments from eight to ten, erect, 

 short. Anthers linear, erect. Germ superior, conical. 

 Style tapering, the length of the filaments. Stigma simple. 

 Drupe OYdiXy size of a nutmeg, pulpy, red, smooth, one- 

 celled. Nut solitary, of the same shape as the drupe, not 

 very hard. The ripe fruits are eaten raw by the natives ; 

 their taste is a compound of sour and bitter. The kernels 

 are also eaten, and taste much like fresh filberts. The 

 wood is yellow, like sandal, and its powder is often sub- 

 stituted for that of sandal by the brahmuns on this part of 

 the coast in their religious ceremonies. 



2. X. (egyptiaca. Jussieu. genera, p. 288. 



Thorny. Leaves binate. Flowers decandrous. Drupe to- 

 rose. 



Hind, llingen. 



Teling. Garee. 



In the Memoirs sur L' Egypt, is a paper on this plant, 

 by M. A. Dehile, where he says the fruit passes in Egypt 

 for Chebnlic myrobalans. 



This seems to me a new genus rather than a species of 

 Ximenia. It is an hostile-looking, small tree, or large 

 shrub, grows on the most inhospitable, dry, barren, un- 

 cultivated places in the Circars. Flowering in May. 



Trunk erect; bark ash-coloured, crooked. Branches 

 few, erect, with extremities spreading, and often droop- 

 ing. Thorns axillary, single, large, strong, very sharp, 

 frequently leaf and flower-bearing. Leaves scattered, pe- 

 tioled, binate. Leaflets short-petiolated, from oval to 

 oblong, smooth, shining, when young downy ; about an 

 inch and a half long, and three quarters broad. Peduncles 



