13. Eandia.] 77. RUBIAGE.E. 



large, fusiform. Fruit a 2-celled many-seeded berry. Seeds angled, 

 cotyledons orbicular. 



I. Corolla-tube short broad or campanulate, shorter than petals. 



A. Flowers large or m.s., solitary or few and fascicled. Sepals broad. 



L. 3-8" oblong or elliptic. Cor. 1-2" diam. Fr. 2"-2"5" . 1, uliginosa, 



L. 1-3" obovate. Cor. "o-Va" diam. Fr. ■75-l'25" . . .2. dumetorum. 



B. Flowers '(J-'S" diam. Sepals very short deltoid. Fr. '4" . 'd. malaharica. 

 If. Corolla-tube slender •5-r2.5". Sepals linear .... 4. fasciculata. 



1. R. uliginosa, DC. Syn. Posoqueria uliginosa, Roxb.; Pirar, Th.; 



Perar, H. ; Kumbikum, K. ; Pendra, Pinde, S. ; Pindaro, Mai. P, 



(also in Purneali) ; Piralo, Beng.; Mohwan (Koderma); Telkur. 



Tolkor, Or. 



A small tree or a slirub with thick black branchlets, handsome 



when in flower, Avith large elliptic or oblong more rarely obovate 



fascicled leaves 2-8" by 1-4" and numerous solitary pure white flowers 



1-2" diam. or the males corymbose. Hj'panthium with short calyx 



together 'o-G" long, turbinate, sepals 5-7 very broad, obtuse or 



rounded. Berry large ellipsoid 2-2 5'' long. 



Throughout the province, in the plains and valleys in the hills, nowhere very 

 common except on cotton soil. Fl. May-July. Fr. Dec. -Feb. Leaves turn colour 

 in Dec. and Jan. and the bush is usually leafless Feb. -April. 



It varies much in thorniness being sometimes quite unarmed, thorns sometimes 

 ternate. Leaves obtuse or rounded or acute at apex narrowed at base into a very 

 short petiole, when quite young hairy on the 6-8 strong sec. n. beneath. Stipules 

 broad rounded or triangular. The flowers are described in the F.B.I, as either 

 large and sessile or small and peduncled and the calyx-tube as 1"5", but some 

 flowers 1'5" diam. have a peduncle over 1" long and 1^' is probably a misprint for 

 i'. Corolla-tube not much exceeding the calyx, petals orbicular. " Tube of the 

 large form with a ring of hairs insicle and a fusiform 2-lobed stigma, that of the 

 small form is glabrous within and with entire stigma," F.B.I. Stamens 5-7. 

 Scales round base of style (in fern.) 5-7. Seeds compressed smooth. 



The fruit is eaten and makes a good vegetable when cooked. 



2. R. dumetorum, Lamk. Syn. Posoqueria dumetorum, nutans, 



longispina and floribunda, Roxh. (F.I.); Mana, Th. ; Mainphal, H. ; 



Man da (Gaya), Mowan, Khar.; Potua, Potab, Portoho, K. ; 



Loto, S. ; Mohana, Or. ; Potwaphal (Sambalpur). 

 A small tree or large shru.b usually armed with straight axillary 

 thorns. Leaves mostly clustered on short branchlets oblanceolate to 

 obovate obtuse or shortly acviminate 1-3", the base narrowed into a 

 short slender petiole •2--4" long. Flowers white, turning yellow 

 •5-l*2o" diam., solitary terminal on new shoots or in 3-4-fld. sessile 

 cymes, subsessile or with pedicels -5". Calyx-tube strigose, sepals 

 ovate or obovate lanceolate or oblong. CoroUa-tvibe campanulate 

 •25--4" long, lobes ultimately reflexed obovate, oblong or oblanceolate. 

 Berry globose or ovoid, yelloAV when ripe, l-l'o" diam. crowned by the 

 calyx-tube. 



Throughout the area, common in the plains and valleys. Fl. April-June. Fr. 

 Aug. -Jan. Leafless March-April. 



Bark nearly smooth but fissured with fine lines, grey ; blaze thick soft pink or 

 reddish. The thorns increase in number and size according to the vigour of the 

 tree and are especially long on young coppice shoots. Leaves sometimes 3-5-4"5" 

 and elliptic-obovate, glabrous or pubescent beneath. In the Singbhum plant with 

 the flowers in sessile 3-t-fld. cymes the sepals are lanceolate or oblong and corolla 

 tube -3- "4" long softly silky or pubescent but the solitary and cymose forms are I 



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