Tamarindus.] LEGUMINOSAE. 409 



anthers versatile, dehiscing longitudinally. Ovary stipitate, the 

 stipe adnate below to one side of the disk, many-ovuled ; style 

 long, filiform ; stigma small, capitate. Pod flat, oblong, coriaceous 

 or almost woody, continuous within. Seeds obovate-orbicular, 

 compressed, exalbumiiious. 



SARACA INDICA, Linn.; F. B. I. ii. 271 ; Bedd. Fl. t. 57. Jonesia 

 Asoca, Roxb.; W. & A. 284; Wt. Ic. t. 206. 



N. Circars, in Ganjam and Vizagapatam, in hill forests; 

 S. Canara, Mysore and Travancore, scarce in a wild state, 

 but frequently planted. The Asoka tree. 

 A small tree with brilliant orange-scarlet flowers and 2-3 

 pairs of oblong-lanceolate leaflets. Wood reddish-brown, 

 soft. Vern. Hind. Asok ; Ur. Oshoko;'lTan. Ashunkar. 



71. Tamarindus, Lmii. 



A tree. Leaves abruptly pinnate ; leaflets many, small, opposite ; 

 stipules minute, caducous ; stipels 0. Flowers in racemes at the 

 ends of branches ; bracts and bracteoles ovate-oblong, coloured, 

 caducous. Calyx-tube turbiiiate, lined by the disk ; lobes 4, 

 lanceolate, membranous, imbricate. Petals 3, imbricate, the two 

 lower reduced to scales. Stamens 3, perfect, the filaments connate 

 about half-way up in a sheath split above, the rest reduced to 

 bristle-like staminodes; anthers versatile, dehiscing longitudinally. 

 Ovary stipitate, the stalk adnate to the disk, many-ovuled; style 

 filiform ; stigma capitate. Pod linear-oblong, incurved, thick, 

 somewhat compressed, with brittle epicarp, pulpy mesocarp and 

 leathery septate endocarp. Seeds obovate-orbicular, compressed, 

 testa hard, albumen 0. 



TAMARINDUS INDICA, Linn. ; F. B. I. ii. 273; W. & A. 285; 

 Bedd. FL t. 184. 



All plains Districts, cultivated and self-sown, probably 

 indigenous in Central Africa. The Tamarind. 

 A large evergreen tree of great importance, having rather 

 small pink yellow-striped flowers, small acid leaflets and a 

 pod whose pulp is made into preserves and also exported as 

 a drug. The bark is dark grey and the wood, very hard and 

 heavy, is of a dark purplish-brown colour and used for many 

 household and agricultural purposes. Yern. Hind. Imli ; 

 Ur. Tentuli; Tarn. Puli ; Tel Chinta, 



