Slerculia. monadelphia dodecandria. 149 



kind of coarse clotli.* Petioles round, downy, from two to 

 tlireo inches loii«»-. Stipules ensilbrni, caducous at an early 

 period. lt((ceines terminal, and from the divisions of the 

 branchlets, diverging-, simple, clothed with ferruginous stel- 

 late pubescence. Flowers tern, sliort-pedicelled, middling- 

 sized, inodorous, hy far the greater part hermaphrodite. 

 Hidctrs lanceolar, a larger one below the middle ilower of 

 the three, and a minute one under each of the other two. 

 (,'alyx nearly rotate, with its five segments revolute, both sides 

 very pubescent ; the (niter side pale yellow ; the inner one beau- 

 tifidly marked with numerous, minute, purple glands on a yel- 

 low ground. ,/]ntheni about a dozen, inserted on the border of 

 the thin nectarial belt which endjraces the base of the germ. 

 Germs long-pedicelled, globose, from three to five-lobed ; 

 three most frequent, downy, from three to five-celled ; each cell 

 contains two vertical rows of ovula, attached to the inner 

 angle of the cell. Many of the flowers are abortive, or male- 

 hermaphrodite. Style, in the fertile hermaphrodite, retro- 

 fracted, nearly as long as the germs; in the male-hermaphro- 

 dite scarcely any. Stif/ma from three to five-lobed. Capsules 

 from one to five, nearly round, of the size ofa small apple, one- 

 celled, one-valved, with the surface furrowed, orange-colour- 



* " The bark of this tree^, the jMalabars convert into a flaxy sub- 

 stance, of which the natives of the lower coasts of Wynaad contrive 

 to make a sort of clothing. It derives its name from the first process 

 of its manufacture, viz. the chopping the bark into small pieces, 

 aiirayoo7ioo, to cut. It is not customary to manufacture the bark 

 until the tenth year, when its size will be equal to that of most 

 forest trees. The mode of obtaining this flaxy substance is as follows. 

 The tree is felled, the branches lopped ofl^", and the trunk cut into 

 pieces of six feet long, a perpendicular incision made in each 

 piece ; the bark opened, artd taken ofll" whole, cliopped, washed, 

 and dried in the sun. By these means, and without any further 

 process, it is fit for the purpose of clothing." 



For the above account we are obliged to Captain Dickenson, of 

 the Bombay Military establishment. 



