356 Verbenaceis. \yitex. 



segm. 4, very short, acute; cor. 2 in., finely pubescent outside, 

 tube curved, lobes 4, ovate, subacute, lowert one largest; 

 drupe \ in., obovate-ovoid, yellow, stone i- or 2-celled and 

 -seeded. 



Open places in low country up to 2000 ft.; common. Fl. September; 

 bright sulphur-yellow. 

 Also in South India. 

 The bark and roots are used in medicine. The fruits are eaten. 



9. VITEX, L. 



Trees or shrubs, 1. opp., palmately 3- or 5-foHolate (very 

 rarely simplej, entire; fl. usually small, in small cymes 

 usually combined into terminal panicles; cal. campanulate, 

 segm. 5, very short; cor. with a short tube, 5-lobed, the 

 lowest much the largest and forming a lower lip; stam. 4, 

 didynamous, somewhat exserted ; ov. 2- or 4-celled, ovules 4, 

 stigma bifid ; drupe invested at base by enlarged cal. ; stone 

 bony, normally 4-celled and 4-seeded but some often sup- 

 pressed. — Sp. 60; 18 in FL B. Ind. 



Cymes in terminal panicles. 

 Shrubs or small trees. 



Lflts. oblong-oval, obtuse . . .1. V. trifolia. 

 Lflts. linear-lanceolate, acute . . 2. V. Negundo. 



Large tree 3- V. altissima. 



Cymes axillary 4. \'. Leucoxylon. 



I. V. trifolia, L. Sp. PI. 638 (1753). Nochchi. T. 

 Herm. Mus. 48. Burm. Thes. 229. Fl. Zeyl. n. 413. Thw. Enura. 

 244. C. P. 1955. 



Fl. B. Ind. iv. 583. Rheede, Hort. Malab. ii. t. 1 1. Bot. Mag. t. 2187. 



A bush, bark smooth, pale grey, 1. variable, some simple 

 and some 3-foliolate with the lat. lflts. smaller, 1. 14-2^ in., 

 obtuse at both ends, lflts. sessile, tapering to base, obtuse, 

 all entire, glabrous above, very finely and closely white- 

 pubescent beneath, petiole about \ in., pubescent, fl. on short 

 ped., cymes paniculate, 1-2 in. long, pubescent ; bracts 

 minute ; cal. white-pubescent, enlarged in fruit, segm. 

 obscure; cor. pubescent outside, tube c}'lindrical-funncl- 

 shaped, \ in., mouth oblique, upper lip with 2 obtuse lobes, 

 lower 3-lobed, the middle one much the longest; stam. much 

 exserted ; drupe globose, about \ in., the lower half or more 

 closely invested by the enlarged cal., slighth' scurfy, purplish- 

 black, stone usually i -celled by abortion. 



Low country, generally near the seacoast ; rather common, especially 

 in the dry region. Fl. Aug.-Septcmber ; bright pale purple. 



