II. DILLENIACE^. 



Obder II. DILLENIACEiE. 



Trees or shrubs. Leaves alternate, with sheathing petioles, exstipu- 

 late, or rarely with lateral, deciduous stipules. Flowers yellow or white. 

 Sepals 5, imbricate, persistcut. Petals 5 or fewer, deciduous. Stamens 

 numerous, hypogynous, many-seriate ; anthers innate, dehiscing by lateral 

 slits or terminal pores. Carpels 1 or more, free or cohering in the 

 axis ; ovules amphitropous, solitary or few and ascending, or many and 

 attached to the ventral suture ; styles distinct. Fruit follicular, or 

 indehiscent and sub-baccate. Seeds 1, or many, arillate (except D'dhnia) ; 

 testa crustaceous ; raphe short ; albumen fleshy ; embryo minute, next 

 the hilum. — Distbib. Tropics of both hemispheres and Australia ; 

 genera 16 ; species about 200. 



1. DILLENIA, Linn. 



Trees. Leaves large, with parallel nerves. Flowers handsome, lateral, 

 solitary or fascicled. Sepals 5, spreading. Petals 5, usually large, 

 Stamens nearly free ; anthers linear, the inner erect or recurved, introrse, 

 the outer recurved, extrorse. Carpels 5-20, cohering in the axis, many- 

 ovuled, indehiscent, when ripe united into a globose fruit enveloped in 

 the sepals. Seeds not, or sometimes, immersed in pulp, exarillate. — 

 Distbib. Tropical Asia, Australia ; species 15. 



Flowers large, often 6 in. in diara 1. B. indica. 



Flowers small, scarcely 1 in. in diam 2. D. penfagyna. 



1. Dillenia indica^ TAnn. Sp. PL (1753) p. 535. A middle-sized 

 tree ; trunk straight but not high ; branches spreading, forming a round, 

 shady head. Leaves fascicled at the ends of the branches, oblong- 

 lanceolate, acuminate, 8-12 by about 4 in., sharply sei'rate, the nerves 

 close, running into the serratures, not forking at the margins, upper 

 surface and the nerves beneath more or less pubescent ; petioles 1-2 in. 

 long, channelled, sheathing. Flowers often exceeding in. in diam., 

 white, fragrant, appearing with the leaves, usually solitary towards the 

 end of each branchlet; pedicels about 3 in. long, clavate, round, smooth. 

 Sepals orbicular, concave, thick and fleshy. Petals oblong. Stamens 

 many, the inner larger, and arching over the shorter outer ones. Fruit 

 large, 3-4 in. in diam., hard outside, fleshy within. Seeds many, im- 

 bedded in glutinous pulp, compressed, wiih hairy margins. Fl. B. I. 

 V. 1, p. 36; E. Gilg. in Engl. & Prantl, Pflauzenf. v. 3, part 6, p. 124, 

 flg. 65 ; Talb. Trees, Bomb. p. 2 ; Woodr. in Journ. Bomb. Nat. v. 11 

 (1897) p. 120 ; Watt, Diet. Econ. Prod. v. 3, p. 113. D. speciosa, Thunb. 

 in Trans. Linn. Soc. v. 1 (1791) p. 200 ; Grab. Cat. p. 2; Dalz. & Gibs, 

 p. 2. — Flowers : June. Vebn. Mota-lcarmal. 



Ko.NKAv : Banda, Alibag, Balzell ^~ Gihson ; S. Koukan, Graham ; Sawantwari, 

 Talhot, Woodrov. S. M. Countuy : Belgaum, T<dhoi. 



Tlie tliick sepals liave an agreeable acid flavor and arc eaten by the natives. When 

 added lo syrnp Uicy are nsed as a cougli inixlurc (DalzoU & Gibson). 



2. Dillenia pentagyna, lioxh. Cor. PI v. 1 (1795) p. 21, t. 20. A 



middle-sized tree with erect trunk ; branches straggling, numerous, 

 ascending, with drooping ends. Leaves at the extremities of the 

 branches, very large, reaching 2 ft. and upwards in length, by 1 ft. in 



