Birjnonia. didynamia angiospermia. 109 



blossom in March, April, May and June, and the seed takes 

 about one year to ripen. 



Trunk very straij>ht. Bark ask-coloured, rather spongy, 

 and considerably cracked. Branches iew and spreading- but 

 little. Leaves opposite, bi- and tri-pinnate, fron» one to four 

 feet long ; in Bengal they are deciduous in the cool months 

 of December and January, and appear with the flowers in 

 April and May. Leaflets short-petioled, from semi-cordate 

 to obliquely-oblong, entire, pointed, hard though void of 

 pubescence, from two to five inches long. Petioles common 

 and partial, channelled, and scabrous, with numerous, ele- 

 vated gray specks. Panicles terminal, ramifications thereof 

 opposite, or tern, two, three, or more times dichotomous, with 

 a single flower in the forks, slightly pubescent. Bractes 

 ovate-oblong, solitary on the outside of the divisions only. 

 Flowers large, white, with a tinge of yellow, and delightful- 

 ly fragrant. Calyx campanulate, coloured, unequally five- 

 toothed. Corol, with a short-cylindric tube, large, campanu- 

 late throat, and five-parted border ; segments sub-orbicular, 

 nearly ecjual, and much curled. Stamina as in the family, 

 with a small fifth sterile one. Germ oblong, an annular 

 gland round its base, two-celled, with numerous seeds at- 

 tached to two, thick, equidistant receptacles on each side 

 of the partition. Style the length of the stamina. Sliyma 

 of two oblong, thin lobes. Siliqnes linear, variously bent, 

 about two feet long; the greatest diameter one inch and a 

 half, and parallel with the valves ; and the transverse one, 

 one inch; of a very hard, woody texture, and extremely 

 rough, M'ith numerous, large, irregular, hard tubercles, 

 which would render it a dangerous bludgeon, one-celled, 

 two-valved. Partition contrary, sub-cylindric, spongy. 

 Seeds numerous, winged, small. Perisperm none. Cotyle- 

 dons thin, nearly roun d, emarginate. Radicle short, point- 

 ins* to the umbilicus. 



