ChailletiacecB. 253 



capsule, loculicidally 3-valved ; seeds numerous, with a long 

 wing, no endosperm. — Monotypic. 



C. Swietenia, DC. Prod. i. 625 (1824). Buruta, S. BZutirai, T. 



Swictenia Chloroxylon, Roxb., Moon Cat. 34. Thw. Enum. 61. 

 C. P. 1 1 60. 



Fl. B. Ind. i. 569. Wight, 111. t. 56 bis, cop. in Bedd. Fl. Sylv. t. 1 1. 



A moderate-sized tree, bark very rough, deeply furrowed, 

 branchlets smooth, purplish, lenticellate, young parts with 

 orange puberulence ; 1. pinnate, spreading or reflexed, rachis 

 4-8 in., cylindrical, puberulous, Iflts. 18-30 or more, alternate 

 or opposite, shortly stalked, very unequal-sided, oblong, obtuse, 

 entire, glabrous, dull blueish-green, paler and minutely gland- 

 dotted beneath ; fl. § in., pedicellate, in small, pyramidal, 

 pubescent, terminal panicles ; cal.-lobes small, oval, obtuse ; 

 pet. with a short claw and ovate, acute blade sagittate at 

 base ; stam. inserted between lobes of disk, shorter than pet., 

 anth. versatile; disk pubescent; ov. sunk in the disk, 3-lobed ; 

 capsule nearly i in., oblong-ovoid, obtuse, glabrous ; seed 

 with wing f in., angular, compressed, wing linear-oblong, 

 obtuse. 



Dry region ; common. Fl. April-June ; cream-coloured. 



Also in Southern India. 



The timber is the well-known ' satin-wood ; ' very hard, heavy, fine- 

 grained, yellow, with a satiny lustre. It is difficult to work, but good for 

 turning, and is the principal timber exported from Ceylon. The best 

 satin-wood forests are in the Batticaloa and Puttalam Districts, and there 

 are also some good ones near Anuradhapura. 



XXXIV.— CHAILLETIACE^E. 



Trees or shrubs ; 1. alternate, simple, with persistent stip. ; 

 fl. regular or nearly so, polygamous; sep. 5, unequal, imbricate; 

 pet. 5, distinct, 2-Iobed, with a small scale at base (?disk), 

 narrow; stam. 5, distinct; ov. 2-celled, with 2 pendulous 

 ovules in each cell, styles distinct ; fruit 2-valved, with a hard, 

 didymous, 2-seeded stone ; embryo large, no endosperm ; 

 cotyledons thick, plane-convex. 



