£assia.] SapotacecE. 79 



1. B. long-ifolia, L. Mant. 563* (1771). Mi, S. Zluppal, T. 



Gaertn. Fruct. ii. 104. Moon Cat. 36. Thw. Enum. 175. C. P. 1797. 

 Fl. B. Ind. iii. 544. Wight, 111. t. 147. Bedd. Fl. Sylv. t. 42. 



A very large tree, much branched, bark thick, dark 

 yellowish-grey, slightly furrowed, young parts pinkish-white, 

 silky pubescent ; 1. crowded at end of year's growth, on slender 

 petioles about \ in. long, 3^-4! in., linear-lanceolate, tapering 

 to both ends, slightly acuminate, quite glabrous when mature, 

 thin, venation pellucid, stip. linear, very early deciduous ; fl. 

 appearing with the young 1., and below them, solitary in axils 

 of small deciduous bracts, ped.2-2|in., slender, rather thickened 

 in upper part, glabrous, erect, afterwards drooping ; cal. f in., 

 segm. ovate, acuminate, deciduous in fruit, outer pair nearly 

 glabrous, inner finely tomentose ; cor. fleshy, tube inflated, 

 lobes 8-12, about as long as tube, oblong, obtuse, erose, erect; 

 anth. 16-24 in 2 tiers, upper tier quite sessile, lower with very 

 short fil., cordate at base, apiculate, 3 -toothed at apex, hairy; 

 ov. 8-celled, hairy, style very long, much exserted ; fl, 2 in., 

 obliquely ovoid, pointed, glabrous (tomentose when young); 

 seed solitary (rarely 2), li-if in., ovoid, slightly compressed, 

 straight on one edge, curved on the other, with a short curved 

 beak, hilum linear, extending the whole length of straight 

 edge, testa thin, hard, brittle, shining, ochre-yellow. 



Forests of the dry region, common ; in the moist low country much 

 rarer and usually/? always) planted. Fl. Feb., May; pale yellow. 



Also in S. India. 



Deciduous and bare for a few days in the dry season, and quickly 

 covered with the yellowish-pink young leaves. The fleshy flowers are 

 very sweet, and are dried and eaten; the scent when in blossom is strong 

 and unpleasant. Bark used as an astringent tonic. The seeds afford an 

 oil ('mi-tel') much used locally for cooking, and as an application in 

 cutaneous diseases. The oil-cake, after expression of the oil, is called 

 'arappOj'and exported from Jaffna to the Malabar coast in some quantity. 

 Attains a great size, 18 ft. or more in girth. The timber is pale reddish- 

 brown, heavy, strong, and very durable, lasting well under water. 

 Gaertner (Fruct. t. 104, f. 2) figures the fruit as 5-celled, 5-seeded. 



\B. latifolia, Roxb., the 'Mahwa' tree of Central India, has several 

 times been recorded for Ceylon, but no doubt B. longifolia was intended.] 



2. B. Moonii, Bedd. Fl. Sylv. For. Man. 140 (1873 ?). 

 Dasyaulus Mootzit\ Thw. Enum. 176. C. P. 3434. 



Fl, B. Ind. iii. 545. 



Tree, bark dark greyish -brown, young twigs rusty-pubes- 



* Kcenig MSS. are also here quoted by Linnfeus to the effect that this is 

 the Illipe tree of the Tamils, ' Illipe malabarorum.' This has been 

 recently published by Engler (Pflanzenfam., vi. 133) as if a generic and 

 specific appellation, to which it has no sort of claim. 



