136 MONADELPHIA HEXANDRiA. Cctnarium. 



MONADELPIHA HEXANDRIA. 



CANARIUM. Schreb. gen. N. 1516. 

 Calyx inferior, three-toothed. Petals three. Germ supe- 

 rior, three-celled, with two ovula in each ; attachment sub-su- 

 perior. Drupe, with as far as three one-seeded cells. Em- 

 bryo inverse, without perisperni. 



]. C. bengalense. R. 



Leaflets ovate, lanceolate, from six to ten pairs. Stipules 

 subulate. Panicles sub-axillary, linear. Drupe ovate. 



An immense forest tree, a native of Silhet and the adjoining- 

 iiiountainous countries north and east of that district; flow- 

 ers in May and June, and the seed ripens about the begin- 

 ning of die year. From fissures, or wounds in the bark, 

 a large quantity of a very pure, clear, amber-coloured resin 

 exudes, which soon becomes hard and brittle, and is not un- 

 like copal, yet the natives set little or no value on it. It has 

 hitherto, so far as 1 can learn, been unnoticed by any one 

 else. In the Calcutta bazar, it is only valued at from two to 

 three Rupees, for seven maunds of eighty pounds weight each. 



Trunk erect, straight, many feet in circumference, the 

 whole tree tall, and uncommonly well furnished. Young 

 shoots void of pubescence, except the thin, tender, shoot- 

 ing* points, and they are covered with a little rust-coloured, 

 pubescence. Leaves alternate, round the ends of the branch- 

 lets, unequally pinnate, from twelve to twenty-four inches 

 long. Lea/lets sub-opposite, from six to ten pairs, from 

 ovate-oblong to lanceolate, firm, entire and smooth, acu- 

 minate, from three to six inches long-, by from one to two 

 broad ; common petioles round, and smooth. Stipules subu- 

 late, clothed with long- soft ferruo'ineous down. Racemes 

 solitary, insertion above the axil Is, sub panicled, shorter, 

 in flower and fruit all the year round. F'lowers rather small, 

 but numerous, many of them abortive, male hermaphrodites. 

 Calyx inferior, cup-shaped, three-toothed. Petals three, 



