Mesua.] Guttiferce. 105 



A large tree ; 1. small, 2-3 in., lanceolate or oval, rounded 

 at base, acuminate, acute and often cuspidate at apex, stiff, 

 not coriaceous, glabrous, lat. veins faint, connected by fine 

 reticulate venation conspicuous beneath, petioles \-\ in.; 

 fl. small, under \ in. diam., in stalked, erect, axillary racemes 

 longer than 1., ped. slender, glabrous, thickened upwards ; sep. 

 thick, concave, persistent ; pet. very concave, longer than sep., 

 obtuse ; stam. spreading, shorter than pet., persistent ; style 

 stout, much longer than stam., branches of stigma subulate ; 

 fr. enveloped in the very greatly enlarged coriaceous imbricate 

 Sep., depressed-spherical, f-i in. diam., tipped with persistent 

 base of style, pericarp coriaceous; seeds 1-4, large, angular, 

 dark red. 



Moist low country ; very rare (?). Kalutara. Fl. Sept.; white, sweet- 

 scented, buds red. 

 Endemic. 

 Wood brownish-red, fine grained, rather soft. 



4. MESUA, L. 



Trees ; 1. with lateral veins inconspicuous ; fl. axillary, 

 bisexual ; sep. 4, in 2 rows ; pet. 4, imbricate ; stam. very 

 numerous, distinct, anth. dehiscing vertically ; ov. 2-celled, 

 with 2 erect ovules in each cell, style long, stigma peltate ; 

 fruit surrounded by enlarged sep., woody-coriaceous, 2-valved ; 

 seeds 1-4, cotyledons flesh}-, plano-convex, coherent. — Sp. 3 

 or more ; all in Fl. B. Ind. 



Leaves oblong-lanceolate, 3-4 in i. M. ferrea. 



Leaves linear-oblong, 8-12 in 2. M. Thwaitesii. 



I. M. ferrea, L. Sp. PL 515 (1753). Na, S. Ifaka, T. 



Herm. Mus. 7. Burm. Thes. 25. Fl. Zeyl. n. 203. Moon Cat. 51. 

 M. Nagaha., Gardn. in Calc. Journ. Nat. Hist. viii. 4. Thw. Enum. 50. 

 PI. and Tri. 1. c. 271. M. Walkcriana, PI. and Tri. 1. c. 273. M sa/icina, 

 PI. and Tri. 1. c. 274. C. P. 602. 



Fl. B. Ind. i. 277 (not given for Ceylon). Wight, Ic. t. 118. 



A moderate-sized tree, pyramidal till old, much branched, 

 bark smooth, pale, young branches virgate, thickened at 

 nodes, twigs nearly cylindrical, glabrous ; 1. numerous, spread- 

 ing, 3-4 in., oblong-lanceoiate, acute at base, acuminate, 

 obtuse, coriaceous, glabrous and shining above, covered with 

 dense white powder beneath, lateral veins fine, quite incon- 

 spicuous, petioles short, \-^ in. ; fl. large, 3-4 in. diam., 

 axillary (often apparently terminal), solitary, nearly sessile ; 

 sep. rotundate, very obtuse, much cupped, somewhat reflexed. 



