PLATE 541. 



BABRINGTONIA RACEMOSA, Roxb. (Fl. Cap. Vol. II, p. 523). 

 Natural Order MTETACE^E. 



A tree 20 to 50 feet in height, usually found in moist places near the sea or 

 on banks of rivers. Leaves alternate, crowded at ends of branches, cuneate- 

 obovate, acute or obtuse, margins entire or obscurely serrate, midrib very pro- 

 minent beneath ; quite glabrous ; 6 to 1 2 inches long, 3 to 5 inches broad, petiole 

 very short, dark coloured and swollen. Inflorescence racemose, racemes pendulous, 

 a foot or more long. Calyx 2-4-cleft, dark brown, subcoriaceous, tube turbinate, 

 the lobes ovate with a broad base inch long, concave. Petals 4, inserted on 

 margin of calyx tube, ovate, pinky-white, 1 to 1 2 lines long. Stamens numerous, 

 in several rows, white, inserted with the petals, filaments filiform, connate at base, 

 much longer than the petals; anthers very small, subglobose, 2-celled. Ovary 

 inferior, 2-4-celled, surmounted by a fleshy ring through which the style passes. 

 Style slender, much longer than the stamens ; stigma simple. Fruit fleshy, 

 crowned by the limb of the calyx, somewhat 4 angled, the angles much rounded, 

 1 -seeded, the remainder of the cells abortive. 



Habitat: NATAL: Drege ; Gueinzius 459; 543; 575; on the banks of the 

 Estuaries at mouths of the rivers throughout the colony. 



A large tree found only in the coast districts and near the sea, and in Natal 

 not very common, but in the East Coast districts of South Africa it is much more 

 plentiful, and it is said that it is found lining the banks of the Rovuma River for 

 more than 20 miles, it is also found near the Zambesi River. Also a native of 

 the Moluccas, Penang, the delta of the Ganges and Malabar. Its root is said to 

 be slightly bitter and is " considered by the Hindus to be aperient, cooling and 

 febrifugal.' The specimen from which the drawing was made was procured from 

 a garden on the Berea near Durban, growing at an altitude of 200 feet or more 

 above the sea level. 



Fig. 1, branch with leaves much reduced ; 2, raceme; 3, calyx and style; 4, 

 longitudinal section of lower portion of flower ; 5, anther ; 6, cross section of 

 ovary; 7, fruit; 8, cross section of same ; figs. 2, 7, 8 natural size, remainder 

 enlarged. 



