Jl32 LXXXII, APOCYNACE.i:. 



1. Alstouia scholaris, R. Br. in Mem. Wem. Soc. v. 1 (1811) 

 p. 76. A tall tree 40-GO ft. (under favourable circumsfauces reaching 

 90 ft.) high with bitter milky juice, glabrous except the inflorescence ; 

 bark grr}^ rough ; branches whorled ; young branchlets copiously 

 lenticellate. Leaves 4-7 (rarely more) in a whorl, coriaceous, 4-8 by 

 l|-22 in., oblong-lanceolate or obovate, obtuse or sometimes shortly and 

 bluntly acuminate, dark-green above, pale and covered with a whitish 

 bloom beneath, base tapering; main nerves numerous, nearly horizontal, 

 parallel, uniting in an intramarginal nerve ; petioles J-g in. long. 

 Flowers greenish-white, in umbellately branched many-flowered pubescent 

 capitate cymes; peduncles 1-2 in. long; pedicels very short; bracts 

 oblong, pubescent. Calyx yo~s ^^* ^<^"S» pubescent ; lobes ^^ in. long, 

 oblong, obtuse, ciliate. Corolla-tube g in. long, villous inside, the mouth 

 with a ring of hairs ; lobes i in. long, cuneate-oblong, rounded or sub- 

 truncate at the apex, pubescent. Disk 0. Carpels pubescent. Follicles 

 12-24 in. long by i in. in diam., cylindric, pendulous in clusters, 

 becoming completely everted after dehiscence. Seeds | in. long, linear- 

 oblong, flattened, rounded and with a fringe of hairs at both ends, the 

 hairs longer than the seed. El. B. I. v. 3, p. 642 ; Grah. Cat. p. 115; 

 Dalz. & Gibs. p. 145; Bedd. Flor. Sylvat. t. 242; Trim. Fl. Ceyh v. 1, 

 p. 133 ; Talb. Trees, Bomb. ed. 2, p. 225 ; Woodr. in Journ. Bomb. Nat. 

 V. 12 (1898) p. 165 ; Watt, Diet. Econ. Prod. v. 1, p. 197.— Flowers : 

 Dec-Mar. Vebn. Sdtvin. 



KoNKAN : vale of the Savitri river between Poladpur and the Ghdts, Graham ; 

 Garbet ridge, Matheran, H. M. Birdwood. Deccan : near Lanoli, Woodrow. Kanara : 

 common in the evergreen forests of N. Kanara, Tal'iot. — Distuib. Throughout India, 

 often cultivated ; Ceylon, Java, Tropical Africa, Eastern Australia. 



The bark, which is known as Dita bark, is an article of commerce and employed in 

 medicine. See Watt, Diet. Econ. Prod. 1. c. 



2. Alstonia venenata, R. Br. in Mem. Wem. Soc. v. 1 (1811) p. 77. 

 A shrub usually 6-8 ft. high, sometimes a small tree 20 ft. in height 

 (Talhot), glabrous. Leaves in whorls of 3-6, membranous, 4-8 by 

 |-1| in., oblong-lanceolate, very finely acuminate, base much tapered ; 

 main nerves numerous, very close, parallel, slender, uniting in an intra- 

 marginal nerve, midrib strong ; petioles g-| in. long, but obscure owing 

 to the decurrent leaf-blade. Flowers white, inodorous, in terminal 

 subumbellate pedunculate cymes, the flowers often racemose on the 

 branches. Calyx 5-'^ in. long ; lobes -^ in. long, triangular- ovate, acute, 

 ciliate. Corolla-tube |-| in. long, slender, swollen at the top over the 

 stamens, mouth contracted and closed by a ring of hairs, throat hairy 

 at and below the insertion of the stamens ; lobes j in. long, oblong, 

 subacute, glabrous. Disk of 2 ligulate glands alternating with the 

 carpels. Follicles 3-5 by 5 in., stalked, falcately curved, tapering at 

 both ends, beaked, glabrous, striate. Seeds 3_i in. long, flattened, 

 linear-oblong, with a tuft of hairs at each end, the hairs shorter than 

 the seed. Fl. B. I. v. 3, p. 642; Dalz. & Gibs. Suppl. p. 52; AVight, 

 Icon. t. 436 ; Bedd. For. Man. in Flor. Sylvat. p. clx ; Talb. Trees, Bomb, 

 ed. 2, p. 226. — Flowers : Nov.-Jan. 



Not common. Konkan : Stocks '., Dalzell\ Kanaka : evergreen fore.«t8 of N. Kanara 

 near the Nilkund and Divimana Ghdta, Talhot. — Distrib. India (W. Peninsula). 



