Order 30. Burseracecz. 5 1 



ORDER 30. BUKSERACE^. The Myrrh family. 



Trees or shrubs, producing balsam or resin, leaves alternate, 

 pinnate or trifoliate, flowers regular small in racemes or panicles, 

 sepals and petals 3 to 6, stamens as many or twice as many, 

 inserted on the edge of the usually conspicuous disk ; ovary free, 

 fruit or drupe containing 2 to 5 kernels (pyrenes). 



This order is closely allied to Anacardiaceae, and chiefly known for 

 its balsamic qualities. 



1. EOSWELLIA. Leaflets opposite, calyx teeth and petals 5, 

 disk annular, crenate, stamens 5 long and 5 short, stigma 

 3-lobed. 



2. BALSAMODENDRON. Calyx segments and petals 3 or 4, 

 stamens usually 4 long and 4 short, disk erect cup-shaped, style 

 short. 



3. GARUGA. Leaflets alternate, stamens 10 equal, stigma 

 4 or 5-lobed, disk ample lining the calyx. 



1. BOSWELLIA. 



B. serrata. A very pretty tree with grey papery bark, and 

 drooping branches ; leaves and flowers collected about the end 

 of the branches, leaflets 6 to 15 pairs oval crenate or serrate ; 

 flowers small white, disk red, anthers yellow, drupe 3-cornered, 

 splitting into 3. Gugal, Sdlai, dup-salai, Sdlphalli. 



Jungles in various parts. I have seen it only in the Pauchmahals. 

 D. has omitted it. H. has a variety with entire leaflets. The gum is 

 the olibanum of commerce, and probably the frankincense of scrip- 

 ture. " Conspicuous by its pale bark and spreading curved branches, 

 leafy at their tips ; its general appearance is a good deal like that of 

 the mountain ash. The gum, celebrated throughout the east, was 

 flowing abundantly from the trunk, very fragrant and transparent." 

 Hooker : Himalayan Journals. 



2. BALSAMODENDRON. 



*B. mukuil (B. Roxburghii, D.) A small thorny tree, the 

 bark pealing off; leaves simple or trifoliate, ovate smooth and 

 shining ; flowers small, red, fascicled, disk toothed, drupe red 

 ovate. Mukul, guggal. 



Berar and Khandesh (D.). Sind, Kattywar and Rajpntana 

 (Brandis). The balm or balsam of scripture is the gum of B. Gileadense 

 (Hoolcer), and from another species, B. Myrrha, is produced myrrh. 

 So from their products the trees of this and the previous genus are 

 sometimes called Incense trees. 



E 2 



