222 DIAJ>ELPHI.\ DECANDUIA. Dalberfjht. 



This is one of our largest inouutaiii frees. Flowers during 

 the wet season. The seeds ripen in February and IMarcli. 



Trunk erect, ihouoh rarely straight, often very thick and 

 rising to a very great height. Branches spreading, very nu- 

 merous, forming a large, shady head. Leaves alternate, 

 pinnate, >\ ith an odd one, from six to nine inches long; leaf- 

 lets from three to seven, generally five, alternate, the exte- 

 rior ones largest, roundish, emarginate, a little waved, above 

 smooth, covered with a little whitish down underneath, ge- 

 nerally about two inches each way. Petioles round, smooth. 

 Stipules none. Panicles axillary, small, erect. Floicers 

 small, white. Cahjx hoary, five-toothed. Filaments ten, 

 united into one, open above. Anthers twin, singly globular. 

 Germ pedicelled, smooth. Sliyma simple. Lef/nme pedi- 

 celled, lanceolate, thin, brittle, when ripe crumbling away, 

 not opening spontaneously, about an inch broad, and tM oand 

 a half or more long. .S'eet/ generally but one in the centre 

 of the legume, reniforuj, smooth, compressed, brown, of the 

 gize of a very small French bean. 



The wood of the centre of the trunk and large branches of 

 this tree, is what is connnonly called black wood, and is al- 

 most universally used for making furniture ; its colour is a 

 greenish or greenish black, with lighter coloured veins run- 

 ning in various directions, which gives it that beautiful ap- 

 pearance, so much admired ; it is rather heavy, sinking in 

 water, close-grained, and admitting of »he finest j)olish. On 

 the Malabar coast this tree must grow to an immense size, as 

 I have seen planks from thence, full three feet and a half 

 broad, and if we allow nine inches of white wood to have been 

 on the outside of these trees, the circumference must have 

 been fifteen feet exclusive of the b;uk. 



In Bengal, where the tree is common, the wood is known 

 by the name Sit-sal, and is certainly not so heavy as that on 

 the coast of Coromandel and Malabar, though fully as beau- 

 tiful, and very much used for furniuue. 



