2/0 SAPOTACE.E. 



% inch: blade lYz to aVi inches by % to 2 inches, 

 elliptic or obovate, entire, glabrous except for a little 

 tomentuni on the impressed veins, shiny, hard : nerves 

 about eight on each side, reticulation fine. Flowers two 

 or three together in the upper axils, facing downwards. 

 Pedicel % inch, rusty. Sepals four to five, triangular 

 acute, 1/5 inch, very rusty. Corolla tube % inch : lobes 

 acute slightly longer than the sepals, with the edges 

 curved inwards as they fade. Staminodes five, alternate 

 with the petals, and close against the ovary, acuminate, 

 contracted at the base, fimbriate densely hairy on the 

 inside. Stamens between and inside the staminodes : 

 filaments half the corolla lobes ; anthers acute, half the 

 filaments. Ovary very hairy ; style slender, long exserted. 

 Fruit sitting on the dried calyx, the size of a small Indian 

 egg, one to five-celled, with milky flesh, smelling like a 

 green apple. Seeds one in each cell, with very hard, 

 brown shiny coat which is incomplete and leaves a long 

 gash on the inner, ventral, side ; endosperm white, oily, 

 embryo straight cotyledons thin. t. 183. Wight Sp. 



Nilg. t. 141. 



In sholas on the Nilgiri and Pulney plateaus, common, 

 flushing a blaze of scarlet with young leaves in December. 

 Flower and fruit before ihe rains. Especially common between 

 Ootacamund and Pykara. Fyson 2006, 2468, 2483. Bourne 

 962.'^ 



Gen. Dist. Western Ghats ; Pegu and Martaban (F.B.I, fide Kurz.). 

 Ceylon. 



I have found, on an occasional flower, tiny scales on the 

 outside of the petals, near the tip. 



The mechanism of pollination appears to be as follows : 

 The buds point downwards at about half a right angle, with the 

 style protruding and always curled upwards. The stigma 

 appears to be receptive at an early stage, though more so later on. 

 When the flower opens the petals spread widely, with the 

 anthers which have already dehisced, pressed up against them 

 by their stiff filaments. The staminodes are curled inwards 

 with rounded backs and tips curled up against the style, so 

 covering the nectariferous disc. This latter is usually dry, but 



