Castaneu. monoecia polyandria. 643 



C AST AN E A. Schreh. gen. N. 1148. 

 Male calyx none. Carol five-pet«T,llod. Stamina from 

 ten to twenty. Female calyx from live to six-leaved, niuri- 

 cate. Corol none. Germ inferior, three-celled ; cells one- 

 seeded; attachment inferior. Stiymas penciliforni. Nuts 

 from one to three, inclosed in the echinate involucre. Em- 

 bryo inverse, nilhout jjerisperm. 



1. C. Indica. Roxh. 



Leaves oblong, acute, mucronate-serratc, polished above, 

 hoary underneath. Aments sub-terminal, panicled. Floiv- 

 ers polygamous. 



Nikari, the vernacular name in Silhet. 



A small tree, a native of the hilly frontier districts cast of 

 Bengal. It flowers during the months of November and 

 December, and the seed ripens in from eight to ten months 

 afterwards. The kernels are eaten by both natives and Eu- 

 ropeans, and may be compared to indifferent filberts. 



Trunk tolerably straight, growing to such a size as to ad- 

 rait of the wood, which is of a good quality, being used for 

 various purposes. Branchlets downy. Leaves alternate, 

 .short-petioled, from oblong- to broad lanceolate, acute, gross- 

 ly umcronate-serrate, polished on the upper surface, soft 

 with brownish down underneath ; veins simple, parallel, and 

 equal in number with the serratures,each ending in the sharp 

 points thereof, from four to eight inches long, by from two to 

 four broad. Stipules ensiform. Aments or spikes, terminal 

 and axillary, panicled, alternate, filiform, downy, those with 

 male flowers more numerous, those with hermaphrodite few 

 and thicker, of an offensive smell. Male flowers collect- 

 ed in small bundles over the spikes. Calyx generally six- 

 leaved ; leaflets oval, very woolly. Filaments twelve, longer 

 than the calyx. Anthers round-oval. Hermaphrodite flow- 

 ers generally solitary, and scattered over every part of their 

 spikes, rarely any male flowers with them. Sometimes two 



4 c 2 



