274 XLV. ANACARDIACE.5. 



it is difficult to determine in what localities the tree may be considered truly wild. 

 It is planted everywhere throughout tiie Presidency, and its dense shady foliage 

 renders it valuable as a roadside tree as well as for planting near main roads in topes, 

 whose shade at midday is valuable to wayfarers and their cattle. The fruit varies 

 much in quality, in some cases being graphically described as a mixture of tow 

 with turpentine, while in the case of some of the more highly cultivated trees the fruit 

 is very delieious. 



Bombay lias been long celebrated for its cultivated mangoes, of which those grown in 

 the island of Bombay are undoubtedly the best, perhaps from the care bestowed on 

 their cultivation. Most of the mangoes grown throughout the country are raised 

 from seedlings, with the result that the quality of the fruit is extremely variable. To 

 secure good fruit, grafting is essential, and was apparently introduced into Bombay by 

 the Portuguese, to propagate the valuable kinds known as the Mazagon (Bombay) and 

 Goa mangoes. Of the Bombay mangoes, the best kinds are those known as the A2)koos 

 (probably a native corruption of the Portuguese name A/pJionse) and the Pirie. Tlie 

 fruit of both weighs on an average about 8 ounces, that of the Aphoos is greenish- 

 yellow on the unexposed, red on the exposed side, without any stigniatic point or beak. 

 The flavor of the fruit is indescribably delicious and it commands the highest price in 

 the market. The Tii'ic mango has less of a yellowish tinge on the unexposed side than 

 the Aphoos, the exposed side being red, and the fruit is furnished with a distinct beak. 

 The ripe fruit does not keep as well as that of the Aphoos and the flavor is not quite 

 so good, so that its market price is lower. The midrib of the leaves and the branches 

 of tlie inflorescence of the best variety of the Aphoos are iif a rich rosy color, while the 

 corresponding parts of the Virie are white or greenisli-white. Wooclrow (' Gardening 

 in India,' edition 5 [1889] pp. 69-72 & pp. 240-2(iO) gives a full description of the 

 best modes of growing and grafting the mango, as well as a list of the most celebrated 

 trees in the Bombay Presidency and the localities in which they are to be found. 

 Watt, Diet. Econ. Prod. v. 5, pp. 146-156, also gives valuable informatiou. 



3. ANACARDIUM, Eottb. 



Shrubs or trees. Leaves alternate, petioled, simple, coriaceous, quite 

 entire. Flowers polygamous, in terminal bracteate panicles. Calyx 

 5-partite, deciduous, erect, imbricate. Disk filling the base of the calyx, 

 erect. Stamens 8-10, all or some fertile ; filaments connate and adnate 

 to the disk. Ovary obovoid or obcordate ; ovule 1, ascending from a 

 very short lateral fuuicle. Nut reniform, seattd ou a large pyriform 

 fleshy bodv, formed of the enlarged disk and top of the peduncle ; peri- 

 carp cellular and full of oil. Seed reniform, ascending ; testa mem- 

 branous, adherent; cotyledons semi-lunar; radicle short, hooked. — 

 DiSTRiB. Tropical America ; species 6, of which 1, the following, has 

 been naturalized in Asia. 



1. Anacardium occidentale, Linn. Sp. PI. (1753) p. 383. A 

 small tree with a short thick crooked trunk ; branches terete, glabrous. 

 Leaves coriaceous, 4-6 by 2^-3 in., obovate or elliptic, rounded at the 

 apex, glabrous, finely reticulately veined, base cuneate ; main nerves 

 10-12 pairs, prominent beneath ; petioles g-| in. long. Panicles ter- 

 minal, longer thun the leaves, the branches cymose ; peduncles lengthen- 

 ing with ag(! ; bract i--| in. long, ovate, very acute, nerved, puberulous 

 outside. Sepals Jr in. long, lanceolate, ])uberulous outside. Petals 

 .}-| in. long, linear-lanceolate, deflexed from the middle, minutely 

 puberulous outside. Stamens about i), one longer than the others, the 

 longer one exserted beyond the recurved petals. Ovary about y'^ in. 

 long, glabrescent, attenuated into a subulate style \ in. long. Fruit 

 reniform, 1 in. long, its pedicel large, fleshy, dark-colored. Fl. B. I. 

 v. 2, p. 20 ; Grab. Cat. p. 40 ; Dalz. & Gibs.'Suppl. p. 18; TaJb. Trees, 

 Bomb. p. 61; Woodr. in Jouru. Bomb. Nat. v. 11 (1897) p. 273; 



