BiSBU.] ^APOTACJSJE. 11 



1. BASSIA. Iyum. ex Linn, j PI. Brit. Jnd. iii, 51?. 



Trees, usually with milky juice. Leaves coriaceous, crowded 

 t twardfl Hie ends of the branchlets. Stipules caducous. Flowers 

 axillary, fascicled among the subterniinal tufts of leaves, or in the 

 axils of fallen loaves. Calyx segments 1, in two scries, the 2 outer 

 lobes valvate and enclosing the inner (except in B. hutyracea), 

 Corolla campuiulate ; lobes usually 8-10, contorted in hud. Sta- 

 mens at least twice as many as the corolla-lobes, usually 16-20; 

 anthers lanceolate, acute, connective often produced. Staminodes 0. 

 Ovary usually 6-8-celled, villous; style subulate, often elongate. 

 Berry globose or ovoid, fleshy. Seeds few or solitary, albumen 0. — 

 "Species about 30, inhabiting India and the Malay Archipelago. 



Corolla-tube fleshy, lobes erect, anthers sessile 1. B. latifolia. 



Corolla-tuhe not fleshy, lobes spreading, fila- 

 ments nearly as long as the anthers . 2. B. butyracea. 



1. B. latifolia, Roxb. Cor. PI. i, 20, t. 19; Fl.Ind. ii, 526; Boyle 111. 



-263; Brandts For. Fl, 259 ; Ind. Trees 42$ ; F. B. I. iii, 544; Watt E. D. ; 



Gimble Man. Inl. Timb.447 ; Kanjilal For. Fl. Sch. Circ. 213; Cool:e 



Fl. Bomb. ii,92; Prain Beng. PI. 649.— Vern. Mahua, mohwa. (The 



Mahua tree.) 



A large deciduous tree. Bark grey or blackish with shallow transverse 

 wrinkles and vertical cracks, the inner portions reddish and milky. 

 Branched many, spreading, forming a close symmetrical head. Leaves 

 clustered at the ends of the branches, 5-9 in. long, elliptic obovate Or 

 broadly lanceolate, rounded or acute at the base, obtuse or shortly 

 acuminate at the apex, coriaceous, firm, densely woolly beneath when 

 voung, at length glabrous ; main lateral nerves 10-14- pairs; petioles 

 1-H in. long; stipules subulate, pubescent, soon falling. Flowers in 

 clusters at the ends of the branches ; pedicels i-lj in. long, droopine, 

 rusty-tomentose. Calyx § in., divided nearly to the base, densely 

 tomentose; segments usually 4, subacute, the two outer valvate and 

 enclosing the others. Corolla abont } in. long, cream-coloured ; tube 

 ovoid, fleshy, J in. long ; lobes usually 8-9, ovate-lanceolate, acute, erect. 

 stamen* usually 21-26 ; anthers in 3 series, sessile, acuminate, hairy on 

 the back. Ovary hirsute : style 1 in. or more in length, hairy at the 

 base. Berry 1-2 in. long, fleshy, ovoid, greenish, 1- 4rseeded. 



Dehra Dun and on the Saharanpur Siwaliks. but more abundant east- 

 wards in the submontane forest tract cf Rohilkhand and N. Ondh ; 

 also in Bundelkhand. The tree blossoms during March and April 

 before the new leaves appear, and the fruit ripens in June and July. 

 Distbib. : From W. Beng., C. India and the C. Pro v. to N. Kanara ; also 

 in Upper Burma. The tree is extensively cultivated within the area 

 ■cf this flora, especially in the eastern and southern divisions. It is 



