^ABiACk^. gi 



cotyledons, enclosed in thin fleshy endosperm, t. 69. 



Wight Ic. t. 972. 



One of the commonest of shola trees. 



Gen, Diit, On the Western Ghats, south-east Himalayas, Assam, Burma, 

 Malay Peninsula down to Penang, Yunan and China. Fyson 446, 646, 

 1097, 2530. Bourne 237, 393. 



Honey is secreted and collects inside the cup formed of the 

 unusually high disc and the secretion appears to be freer when 

 the latter is stimulated by being touched as it would be by 

 insects visiting the flower. 



In t. 68 : F. flower after removal of the sepals petals and one stamen 

 showing the crenulate five-partite disc inside the stamens ; .S". seed, show, 

 ing the thick testa and embryo inside ; S' . embryo showing large 

 cotyledons and very small radicle. 



SABIACE/E. 



A small family closely allied to the Sapindaceae and 

 represented here by only one genus with two species. 



MELIOSMA. F.B.I. 45 II. 



Flowers small, crowded and almost sessile on the 

 branches of racemose panicles. Sepals five, smaller than 

 the petals. Petals three, outer 1/16 inch, triangular, 

 enclosing all the rest of the flower, two inner reduced to 

 very small bifid scales behind the two fertile stamens. 

 Filaments of fertile stamens strap-shaped with a broad 

 hollowed scale at the top and two globular anthers. 

 Sterile stamens three, as scales fitting over the ovary, 

 with two lateral hollows like double ears. Ovary 1/30 inch 

 silky. Fruit a small drupe the size of a pea. 



Species 45, mostly natives of tropical and sub-tropical Asia; 



some in the Antilles and from Mexico to Brazil. 



Leaves simple, 6 to 10 inches long, hard; flowers in large 



panicles sohtary at the ends of the branches . . . Bastard 



Mango or Spirsea-tree of Ootacamund and Kodaikanal . . 



M. wightii. 

 Leaves pinnate ; panicles in the axils of the uppermost 

 leaves and bracts forming flat compound masses. Spiraea- 

 tree of Kotagiri and Coonoor. ..... M. arnottiana. 



