612 LVIII. LYTHRACE.E. 



Doubtfully wild in the Bombay Presidency, said by Bahcll tf- Gihson {I. c.) to be 

 indigenous in Gujarat. Woodrow mentions {I. c.) that it is plentiful in sandy salt 

 land near Bombay and that seedlings are abundant. Cultivated throughout the 

 Presidency, and often used as a hedge-plant in the same manner as privet in England. 



The plant is the Henna of Egypt, and is largely used in India by the natives for 

 dyeing the nails, skin, and liair. It is also used medicinally. See Watt, Diet. Econ. 

 Prod. 1. c, where a very full account of its various uses may be found. 



4. LAGERSTRCCMIA, Linn. 



Trees or shrubs. Leaves opposite, distichous or the uppermost 

 alternate, petiolate, oblong or ovate, entire, often glaucous beneath. 

 Plowers often large and showy, in axillary and terminal panicles, the 

 ultimate branchlets usually cymose ; peduncles 2-bracteate at their apex ; 

 pedicels 2-bracteolate. Calyx-tube campanulate, coriaceous, smooth or 

 ribbed, or winged ; lobes 6 (sometimes 7-9), ovate or triangular, often 

 caudate, valvate ; accessory teeth or (rarely) minute. Petals 6 (some- 

 times 7-9) or 0, inserted at the summit of the calyx-tube, clawed, more 

 or less orbicular, wrinkled, the margin crisped, erose or fimbriate. 

 Stamens oo , inserted near the bottom of the calyx-tube ; filaments much 

 exserted. Ovary sessile at the bottom of the calyx, 3-6-celled ; ovules 

 numerous, ascending ; placentas axile ; style long, bent ; stigma capitate. 

 Capsule more or less adnate to the calyx, ellipsoid, coriaceous, smooth, 

 3-6-celled, loculicidally 3-6-valved. Seeds many (rarely few), com- 

 pressed, ascending or horizontal ; testa membranous, winged at the 

 summit. — Disxkib. South-east Asia, extending to Australia; species 18. 



Calyx not ribbed ; petals less than | in. long. 



Capsule |-li in. long; calyx-lobes appressed to the fruit ... 1. L. parvijlora. 



Capsule ^-J in. long ; oalyx-lobes spreading or reflexed 2. L. lanceolata. 



Calyx ribbed ; petals 1 in, long or more 3. L. Flos-EegincB. 



1. Lagerstroemia parviflora, Roxh. Cor. PI. v. 1 (1795) p. 47, 

 t. QQ. A large tree attaining 50-70 ft. high ; youngest branches some- 

 times slightly pubescent. Leaves 2-4 by 1|-2| in., elliptic-oblong, 

 acute or acuminate, green and glabrous above, pale or sometimes hoary- 

 tomentose beneath, conspicuously reticulately veined, narrowed or 

 cuneate at the base ; main nerves 6-10 pairs, arcuate, prominent 

 beneath ; petioles 0-| in. long. Flowers white, fragrant, in axillary and 

 terminal many- or few-flowered panicles ; pedicels slender, short. Calyx 

 \ in. long in flower, enlarged to \ in. or more in fruit, glabrous or finely 

 cano-pubescent, not ribbed ; tube subhemispheric, or in fruit somewhat 

 funnel-shaped below ; teeth 6, variable in size, triangular, acute, closely 

 appressed to the fruit. Petals 6, white, broadly obovate-oblong, \ in. 

 long, with a long slender claw, undulate. Capsules variable in size, but 

 usually about |-li by g-f in., ellipsoid. Seeds (including the wing) 

 ^-| in. long, the wing much longer than the seed, about g in. long, cultri- 

 form, thin on the inside edge, thick on the outer. Pl. JB. I. v. 2, p. 575 ; 

 Brandis, For. PI. p. 239 ; Talb. Trees, Bomb. ed. 2, p. 175 ; Woodr. in 

 Journ. Bomb. Nat. v. 11 (1898) p. 638; Watt, Diet. Econ. Prod. v. 

 4, p. 583. Laf/erstrcemia lanceolata, Dalz. & Gibs. p. 98 ; Bedd. P'lor. 

 Sylvat. t. 32 {not of Wall.). — Plowers : June. Veen. Bonddrd. 



Konkan: Sfocksl, Law\, Gihson \\ Matheran, CooJcel Deccan : hills near Poona, 

 Woudroiv \ ; Koina valley, Cc/o^-g I ; Chattersingbi hill near Poona, X'artiYA-ftr I S. M. 



