358 Ve7'benacecs. \yitex. 



cymes short, crowded, dichotomous, one-sided, in large, lax, 

 pyramidal, pubescent, terminal panicles, bracts immediately 

 beneath fl., ,5 in., oblong, obtuse, puberulous; cal. pubescent 

 on both sides, segm. rather short, oval, obtuse, spreading; cor. 

 slightly pubescent outside, limb campanulate, 2-lipped, upper 

 lip with 2 short, acute, triangular lobes, lower 3-lobed, the 

 middle more than twice as large as the lat. ones; drupe 

 irregularly globose, under \ in., supported on enlarged 

 flattened cal., purple, often with small white dots, smooth. 



Var. /?, zeylanica, Clarke. V. zcylanica, Turcz. in Bull. Mosc, 

 1863, ii. 223. 



Lflts. quite glabrous beneath. 



Var. 7, alata, Trim. {V. alata, Heyne. V. appendiciilata., Rottl.). 



L.-petiole always rather broadly winged, widened and 

 cordate at base, lflts. ver}' finely pubescent above, densely 

 grey-pubescent beneath; fl. more laxly arranged. 



Low country, principally in the dry region ; common. Var. 7, near 

 Mulliativu (J. P. Lewis). Fl. July-Oct.; very pale violet or white, with 

 the middle lobe of lower lip bluish. 



Also in Peninsular India. 



Var. /? is scarcely worth notice. Var. 7 is kept as a species in 

 Fl. B. Ind., but not given for Ceylon. Mr. J. P. Lewis informs me that 

 it has a different habit of growth to the ordinary tree, being taller and 

 straighten He found a few trees only at Vavaddai and Neduchaddik- 

 kulam. 



A valuable timber-tree. Wood hard, heavy, close-grained, smooth, 

 tough, durable, grey ; the carpenters distinguish several varieties. The 

 bark is used as a fomentation in rheumatic swellings. The wood affords 

 a yellow dye, which is not much employed. 



V. pinnata, L. Sp. PI. 638 (1753), is an earlier name, but applies only 

 to a variety with 5 leaflets collected by Hermann; this is Fl. Zeyl. n. 

 415 {Pistacio-vitcx). The specimens are densely tomentose-pubescent. 

 (Linnaeus quotes also for this Burm. Fl. Ind. 138 and the figure t. 43, f 2, 

 which is very poor indeed.) This Fl. Zeylan. plant is again quoted by 

 Vahl under his V. piibcsccjis (Symb. Bot. iii. 85) in 1794, and this species 

 is kept up in Fl. B. Ind. iv. 585, and is given for Ceylon 'frequent' on 

 the faith of a specimen from Mrs. Walker (n. 1 122). It is figured in Wight, 

 Ic. t. 1465 (V. arborea), but I have never seen anything in Ceylon like this 

 figure. 



4. v. Iieucoxylon, /.. / Suppl. PI. 293 (1781). N^bedda, .S". 

 Kaddu-nochchi, Ifir-nochclii, T. 



Thw. Enum. 244. C. P. 1957. 



Fl. B. Ind. iv. 587. Wight, Ic. t. 1467 {Wallrothia Lciicoxylon). 



A large tree with spreading head, bark smooth, white, 

 thin, young parts slightly pubescent; 1. compound, petiole 

 i|-3 in., glabrous, lilts, usually 5 (sometimes 3), stalked 

 unciiual, the terminal, '^-'^l in., twice as large as the basal 



