42 



Properties. Nothing more is known than that the fruit of some is 

 eatable. They are handsome trees or shrubs, with showy flowers ; and the 

 furrowed, sculptured, bony fruit of the Elseocarpi, being freed from its 

 pulp, forms handsome necklaces, which are not uncommonly set in gold, 

 and sold in the shops. 



Examples. Elaeocarpus, Vallea. 



XXXI. DIPTEROCARPE^. The Camphor Tree Tribe. 



DiPTEROCARPEyE, Blume Bijdr. p. 222. (1825) ; Fl. Javce (1829). 



Diagnosis. Polypetalous dicotyledons, with hypogynous indefinite 

 stamens, subulate anthers opening towards the apex, concrete carpella, an 

 ovarium of several cells with pendulous ovules in pairs, a tubular calyx with 

 imbricated aestivation, and a fruit surrounded by the dilated unequal folia- 

 ceous calyx. 



Anomalies. 



EssEKTiAL Character. — Calyx tubular, 5-lobed, unequal, naked at the base; 

 sestivation imbricated. Petals hypogynous, sessile, combined at the base ; aestivation con- 

 torted. Stamens indefinite, hypogynous, distinct, or slightly and irregularly polyadelphous; 

 anthers innate, subulate, opening longitudinally towards the apex ; filaments dilated at the 

 base. Ovarium superior, without a disk, few-celled ; ovules in pairs, pendulous ; stt/le 

 single; stigma simple. Fruit coriaceous, 1 -celled by abortion, 3-valved or indehiscent, 

 surrounded by the enlarged calyx. Seed single, without albumen ; cotyledons twisted and 

 crumpled, or unequal and obliquely incumbent; radicle superior — Elegant trees, abounding 

 in resinous juice. Leaves alternate, involute in vernation, with veins running out from 

 the midrib to the margin ; stipules deciduous, oblong, convolute, terminating the branches 

 with a taper point. Peduncles terminal, or almost so, in racemes or panicles ; flowers 

 usually larg^. 



Affinities. Very near Elaeocarpese, but also allied to Malvaceae in 

 the contorted aestivation of the corolla, and the crumpled cotyledons: 

 they differ from the latter in having the stamens either distinct or par- 

 tially combined, long narrow 2-celled anthers, and pendulous ovules; and 

 from the former in their petals not being fringed, and in want of albumen. 

 Their resinous juice, solitary superior ovarium, drupaceous fruit, numerous 

 long anthers, irregular coloured calyx, and single exalbuminous seed, allies 

 them, as Blume remarks, to Guttiferae, from which their stipulse and the 

 aestivation of the corolla abundantly distinguish them. The enlarged folia- 

 ceous unequal segments of the calyx, while investing the fruit, point out this 

 family at once. 



Geography. Only found in the eastern islands of the Indian Archi- 

 pelago, where, according to Blume, they form the largest trees of the forest. 



Properties. Here belongs the famous Camphor tree of Sumatra, 

 Dryobalanops Camphora, which is no doubt a species of Dipterocarpus. 

 The camphor is found in a concrete state in the cavities and fissures in the 

 heart of the tree. It is less volatile than the common camphor of commerce. 

 Ed. P. J. 6. 400. See remarks upon this tree in Blume's Flora Javce. 

 Shorea robusta yields a balsamic resin used in the temples of India. The 

 fruit of Vateria indica (Piney Tree) is boiled for the sake of a tallow, which 

 rises to the surface of the water, and forms a hard cake when cool. In this 

 state it is whitish, greasy to the touch, with rather an agreeable odour. It 

 is extremely tenacious and solid, but melts at a temperature of 97.}° Fahr. 

 Brewster, 4. 186. 



Examples. Dipterocarpus, Dryobalanops; 



