282 XLA'I. MOniNOACE.l. 



Order XLVI. MORINGACE^. 



Unarmed trees with soft wood. Leaves alternate, 2-3-pinnate, the 

 pinnas and pinnules imparipinnate, opposite ; leaflets opposite, quite 

 entire, obovate, caducous, and, as well as the pinnas and pinnules, with 

 glands at the base ; stipules 0. Flowers large, white, or white streaked 

 with red, hermaphrodite, irregular, in axillary panicles. Calyx cup-shaped, 

 5-cleft; segments unequal, petaloid, deciduous from above the base, 

 imbricate. Petals 5, unequal, the upper smaller, the lateral ascending, the 

 anterior the larger. Disk liniug the calyx-tube. Stamens inserted on the 

 edge of the disk, declinate, 5 perfect opposite the petals alternating with 

 5 (or 7) which are reduced to antherless filaments ; anthers dorsifixed, 

 1-celled. Ovary stipitate ; ovules numerous, in 2 series, on parietal 

 placentas ; style slender, tubular ; stigma perforated. Capsule elongate, 

 beaked, 3-6-angled, 1-celled, loculicidally 3-valved. Seeds many, in pits 

 of the valves; testa corky, winged or not ; albumen 0; embryo straight; 

 cotyledons plano-convex; radicle very short, superior ; plunuile many- 

 leaved. — DiSTRiB. "W. Asia and N. Africa. 



A Natural Order of doubtful affinity, containing 1 genus (Moringa) 

 and 3 species. 



1. MORINGA, Lamk. 



Character of the Order. 



Leaves usually 3-pinnate ; leaflets ^-| in. long, nerves 



obscure; flowers white 1. M. pferi/gosperma. 



Leaves usually 2-pinnate; leaflets J-1^ in. long, nerves 



distinct; flowers yellow, streaked with red 2. M. coJicanensis. 



1. Moringa pterygosperma, GcKHn. Fruct. v. 2 (1791) p. 314. 

 A small or middle-sized tree ; bark coi-ky ; wood soft ; root pungent ; 

 young parts tomentose. Leaves usually 3-pinnate, sometimes ]| ft. 

 long ; rhachis slender, thickened and articulated at the base ; pinnse 

 and pinnules opposite, deciduous, their rhachides very slender, articu- 

 lated and with a gland at the articidations ; ultimate leaflets ^-| by 

 i-3 in., the lateral elHptie, the terminal obovate and slightly larger 

 than the lateral ones ; nerves obscure ; petiolules of the lateral leaflets 

 ■ylg— pL in., those of the terminal ^-| in. long. Flowers white, in large 

 puberulous pauich^s. Calyx-lobes linear-lanceolate i-eflexed, puberidous 

 outside. Petals spathulate, veined. Stamens 5 fertile, alternating \a ith 

 5-7 antherless ones ; filaments villous at the base. Ovary oblong, 

 villous; style cylindric. Pods reaching 18 in. long, 9-ribbed. Seeds 

 3-angled, the angles winged. PL B. I. v. 2, p. 45 ; Grab. Cat. p. 43 ; 

 Dal/,. & Gibs. p. 311 ; Ait. Pb. & Sind PI. p. 36; Bedd. Flor. Sylvat. 

 t. 80; Talb. Trees, Bomb. p. 64 ; Woodr. in Journ. Bomb. Nat. v. 11 

 (1897) p. 273 ; Watt, Diet. Econ. Prod. v. 5, p. 276.— Flowers : Jan.- 

 Apr. Vern. Shevf/a. 



The horseradish tree or drumstick tree of Anglo-Tndinns. It is found wild in the 

 forests of the Western Himalaya and Oiidli, but is cultiviitwl tliroii(;liout India and in 

 many other tro))ical countries. The scraped root funiLslics n\\ oxcclloiit substitute for 

 horseradish, while the long immature pods arc used in lunking what is known to 

 Europeans as drumstick-curry. Several parts of the tree are used in nntive medicine 

 and an oil called Ben oil is extracted from the seeds. The oil is hitrldy valued by 

 watchmakers and generally as a lubricant for fine machinery, while perfumers hold it 



