122 URTICACES.  [ Trema- 
polygamous, in small axillary cymes. /Perianth simple. Mae 
flowers. Sepals 4 or 5, induplicate-valvate or subimbricate. Sia- 
mens 4 or 5, erect in bud. Pistillode small or none. Frm. flowers. 
Sepals as in male when stamens are present, flat and subimbricate 
in the absence of stamens. Ovary sessile; style central, with 2 
linear arms, ovule pendulous. Fruit a small straight ovoid or 
subglobose drupe, usually tipped by the style, endocarp hard. 
Seed small, testa membranous, albumen fleshy, cotyledons narrow, 
fadicle ascending.—Species about 20, in tropical and sub-tropical 
regions of the world. 
Leaves distinctly unequal at the base, softly 
pubescent beneath . . ; . . 1. T. orientalis. 
Leaves almost equal at base, very scabrid on 
both surfaces . ; : : ; . 2. 7. politorva. 
1. T. orientalis, Blume Mus Bot. ii, 62; F. B. I. V., 484; 
Watt, HE. D., Kanjilal For. Fl. (ed. 2), 361; Gamble Man. 630 ; 
_ Prain Beng. Pl. 960 ; Cooke Fl. Bomb. ti, 631 ; Brandis Ind. Trees 
597. Sponia orientalis, Planch.; Royle Ill. 341; Brandis 
For. Fl. 430. Celtis orientalis, Linn. ; Roxb. Fl. Ind. II, 65 ;— 
Indian Nettle-tree or Charcoal-tree. ) 
A small quick-growing short- lived evergreen tree ; bark thin, dark-grey, 
with many lenticels. Branches spreading, straight ; branchlets 
hairy. Leaves 2-3 in. long, obliquely ovate, acuminate, crenate- 
serrulate, rather rough on the upper surface, soft beneath with white 
pubescence ; base unequally rounded or subcordate, 3-nerved, 
lateral nerves above the basal ones 3-4 pairs ; petioles }-2 in. ; stipules 
_ as long as the young petioles, deciduous. Cymes lax, spreading, 
pubes cent, usually exceeding the petioles. Matz rLoweERS: Sepals 
elliptic-lanceolate. Stamens 5, longer than the sepals. Pistilode 
small. FEM. FLOWERS: Sepals as in the male. Drupe ovoid, } in. 
in diam., glabrous, black when ripe. 
Dehra Dun, usually in swampy ground and eastwards along the Sub- 
Himalayan forest tracts of N. Oudh and Gorakhpur. Flowers 
during the greater part of the year. DistTrrp.: More or less through- 
out India, extending to Ceylon, the Malay Islands and China. This 
tree is remarkable for its sudden appearance in clearings of moist 
forest ; it is also very useful for planting on landslips. The wood 
produces a good charcoal suitable for making gunpowder, and the 
inner bark yields a strong fibre much used for binding loads. 
