BASSIA.] SAPOTACE3B. 11 



1. BASSIA, Keen, ex Linn. ; Fl. Brit. Jnd. iii, 543. 



Trees, usually with milky juice. Leaves coriaceous, crowded 

 towards the ends of the branchlets. Stipules caducous. Flowers 

 axillary, fascicled among the subterminal tufts of leaves, or in the 

 axils of fallen leaves. Calyx segments 4, in two series, the 2 outer 

 lobes valvate and enclosing the inner (except in _Z? t hutyracea), 

 Corolla campanulate ; lobes usually 8-10, contorted in bud. Sta- 

 men* at least twice as many as the corolla-lobes, usually 16-20; 

 anthers lanceolate, acute, connective often produced. Staminodes 0. 

 Ovary usually 6-8-celled, villous ; style subulate, often elongate. 

 Berry globose or ovoid, fleshy. Seeds few or solitary, albumen 0. 

 Species about 30, inhabiting India and the Malay Archipelago. 

 Corolla-tube fleshy, lobes erect, anthers sessile 1. B. latifolia. 



Corolla-tube not fleshy, lobes spreading, fila- 

 ments nearly as long as the anthers . 2. B. butyracea. 



1. B. latifolia, Roxb. Cor. PI. i t 20, t. 19 ; Fl. Ind. ii, 526; Royle III. 

 "263; Brandis For. Fl. 289 ; Ind. Trees 428; F. B. I. ttt, 544; Watt E. D. ; 

 Gamble Man. Ind. Timb.447; Kanjilal For. Fl. Sch. Circ. 218; CooJce 

 Fl. Bomb, ii, 92; Prain Beng. PI. 649. Vern. Mahua, mohwa. (The 

 Mahua tree.) 



A large deciduous tree. Bark grey or blackish with shallow transverse 

 wrinkles and vertical cracks, the inner portions reddish and milky. 

 ^Branches many, spreading, forming a close symmetrical head. Leaves 

 clustered at the ends of the branches, 5-9 in. long, elliptic obovate Or 

 broadly lanceolate, rounded or acute at the base, obtuse or shortly 

 acuminate at the apex, coriaceous, firm, densely woolly beneath whea 

 voung, at length glabrous ; main lateral nerves 10-14 pairs; petioles 

 1-1 in. long ; stipules subulate, pubescent, soon falling. Flowers in 

 'dusters at the ends of the branches ; pedicels 1-lf in. long, droopiner, 

 rusty-tomentose. Calyx f in., divided nearly to the base, densely 

 tomentose; segments usually 4, anbacute, the two outer valvate and 

 enclosing the others. Corolla about f in. long, cream-coloured; tube 

 ovoid, fleshy, | in. long ; lobes usually 8-9, ovate-lanceolate, acute, erect. 

 Stamens usually 21-26 ; anthers in 3 series, sessile, acuminate, hairy on 

 the back. Ovary hirsute ; style 1 in. or more in length, hairy at the 

 base. Berry 1-2 in. long, fleshy, ovoid, greenish, 1- 4-seeded. 



)ehra Dun and on the Saharanpur Siwaliks, but more abundant east- 

 wards in the submontane forest tract of Rohilkhand and N. Oudh ; 

 also in Bundelkhand. The tree blossoms during March and April 

 before the new leaves appear, and the fruit ripens in June and July. 

 DISTRIB. : From W. Beng., C. India and the C. Prov. to N. Kanara ; also 

 an Upper Burma. The tree is extensively cultivated within the area 

 of this flora, especially in the eastern and southern divisions. It is 



