Order 108. Salicinece. 313 



females dense and generally longer, stamens 5 to 10. Wdlunj, 

 bucha, ~bitasa. 



This is the only wild species of W. India ; it has all the appearance 

 of the English willows, and, like many of them, is found on the banks 

 of streams, but in this Presidency only, I believe, in or near the 

 Ghauts, though H. gives it as throughout tropical and subtropical 

 India. He calls it a polymorphous plant, and includes in it several 

 different species of other authorities. 



" There is a willow grows aslant a brook, 

 That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream." Hamlet. 



The willow is the tree of jilted lovers 



" I offered him my company to a willow tree, ... to make him a 

 garland, as being forsaken." Much Ado about Nothing. 



The weeping willow, S. Babylonica (so called apparently from 

 Ps. cxxxvii. 1, 2) is said to be found in Bombay gardens, and this and 

 other species are, it appears from H., cultivated in N. India for the 

 same purpose as willows at home. 



Note. The next order and Coniferee belong to a separate 

 class of Exogens, called Gymnospermse, and differ from all the 

 orders which have gone before in the seeds not being contained 

 in an ovary. There is in fact no pistil, and the ovules, which 

 are naked, are fertilized by the direct application of the 

 pollen. 



ORDER 109. GNETACE^E. 



Trees or shrubs with jointed branches, leaves opposite 

 without stipules ; filaments columnar, anthers roundish on the 

 top of the column, seed dry or drupaceous. 

 A very small order : only one species known in W. India. 



GNETUM. Flowers whorled in axillary spikes. The male 

 flowers consist of a single stamen, the female of a naked ovule 

 terminating above in a prolongation resembling a style, 

 perianth scarcely distinguishable, seed drupaceous. ~ 



The above description is partly from Oliver. 



G. scandens. A very large climber with a trunk like a tree, 

 young shoots round and smooth, leaves oval, smooth, shining, 

 entire ; racemes containing 2 or 3 pairs of catkins, which are 

 jointed, seed oblong, size of an acorn, orange- coloured with 

 fibrous skin. Kumbal, umbli. 



Ghauts and Konkan. "Very common in thick jungles " (D.). 



