120 



LEGUMINOS2E. 



[ Ougeinia. 



A moderate-sized deciduous tree, under certain circumstances gre- 

 garious. Bark J inch thick, light brown, sometimes with bluish patches, 

 with regular longitudinal and horizontal cracks. Sapwood small ; 

 Leartwood mottled, light brown, sometimes reddish brown, hard, close- 

 grained ; annual rings indistinct. Pores moderate-sized, enclosed in 

 irregularly-shaped, more or less concentric but interrupted patches and 

 bands of white soft tissue. These patches, which are tapering and point- 

 ed at the ends, are separated by irregularly-shaped belts of firm and 

 darker-coloured shining tissue, in which the fine and numerous, white, 

 uniform and equidistant medullary rays are distinctly visible. Pores 

 marked on a longitudinal section. 



Chiefly in the intermediate zone. Sub-Himalayan tract from the Sutlej to the 

 Tista, ascending to 5,000 feet ; Central India and the Western Coast. 



Weight, 57 to 60 Ibs. (Brandts) ; B. Thompson gives 58 ; our specimens give an 

 average of 55 Ibs. The wood is tough and durable, and takes a beautiful polish. It 

 is used for agricultural implements, carnage poles, wheels and furniture ; also for 

 building. The tree gives an astringent red gum ; the bark is pounded and used to 

 intoxicate fish ; and the branches are lopped for cattle fodder. A crystalline substance, 

 probably magnesia, is sometimes found in the wood (see specimen E 601). 



Ibs. 



6. DESMODIUM, Desv. 



Contains a number of shrubs found 'in the forests in almost all parts of India. 

 D. pulchellum, Bth. ; Hook. Fl. Ind. ii. 162 ; Brandis 145; Kurz i. 383; Gamble 26 

 (Hedysarum pulchellum, Roxb. Fl. Ind. iii, 361) Yern, Juta-salpani, Beng. ; Set 

 kristinapani, Cuttack ; Toungtamin, Burm., is a common erect shrub with the 

 flowers in the axils of bifoliolate bracts. Z>. gyroides, DC. ; Hook. Fl. Ind. ii. 175 ; 

 Kurz i. 388 ; Gamble 27. Vern. Bolu, Nep., is an erect, blue-flowered shrub of the 

 Himalayas, Eastern Bengal and Burma ; and D.gyrans, DC. ; Hook. Fl. Ind. ii. 174; 

 Brandis 146 ; Gamble 27 (Hedysarum gyrans, Roxb. Fl. Ind. iii. 351) Vern. Gora- 

 chand, Beng., is common in India and Burma, and generally known as the " Telegraph 

 Plant " from its small, sensitive, rotating, lateral leaflets. 



1. D. tilisefolium, G. Don.; Hook. Fl. Ind. ii. 168; Brandis 145. 

 Vern. Sambar, s/iamru, chamra,chamyar, chamkat, chamkul, mart an, motha, 

 gurshagal,pri, mardra, muss, w.urt, laber, Hind. 



A large deciduous shrub, with thin, grey bark. Wood yellowish brown, 

 with a darker centre. Pores small. Annual rings distinctly marked by a 

 belt of small pores ; in the outer part of each annual ring the pores are 

 very small, and generally arranged in short, linear, wavy, concentric lines. 

 Medullary rays white, fine to very fine. 



Himalaya, from the Indus to Nepal, between 3,000 and 9,000 feet. 

 Growth ilow, 14 rings per inch of radras. Weight, 53 lb. per cubic foot. The 

 bark is extensively us 1 for rope-making and paper. 



Ibn. 



H 3184. Dun- -;illi, II a/.ara, 8,000 feet 



II 01. Nagkanda, Simla, 7,000 feet 



H 2934. Mahasu, Simla 7,000 feet 5:1 



H 301'J. Kotgarli, Simla, 7,000 fed (var. >v/o<'fw, Wall.) 



