CORDIA.] BORAGINACE&. 83 



A moderate-sized deciduous tree, up to 40 or 50 ft. high, and usually with 

 a crooked tranc. Bark grey or brown, rough with shallow longitudinal 

 furrows. Branchlets glabrous ; young shoots silvery-grey. Leaves 

 alternate, thinly coriaceous, 3-6 in. long, elliptic-lanceolate to broadly 

 ovate or suborbicular, rounded cordate or somewhat cuneate at the base, 

 entire or the margins more or less sinuate-dentate ; upper surface 

 glabrous, becoming scabrous when old, softly pubescent beneath when 

 young, usually 3-nerved from near the base ; petioles f-1^ in. long. 

 Flowers white, usually 5-merous, in large lax terminal and axillary 

 peduncled cymes ; peduncles 1-2 in. long, pedicels short. Calyx cam- 

 panulate, about in. long, glabrous outside, silky within, completely 

 covering the corolla in bud, irregularly 5-toothed, accrescent in fruit. 

 Corolla tube as long as the calyx ; lobes equalling the tube, narrowly . 

 oblong, obtuse, recurved. Stamens exserted, filaments hairy below. 

 Drupe --1 in. long, ovoid, apiculate, yellow, pink or nearly black, 

 shining, minutely rugose. 



Abundant within the area, especially in the more hilly portions, often 

 planted. Flowers during March and April, and the fruit ripens May 

 July. DISTBIB. Throughout the warmer parts of India and in Ceylon, 

 ascending to 5,000 ft. on the Punjab Himalaya. It is found also in 

 Egypt, China, Malaya and in Trop. Australia, but often cultivated. 

 The wood, though soft, is strong and seasons well, but is liable to be 

 attacked by insects ; it affords, however, excellent fuel. The bark 

 yields a fibre, and is also used medicinally. The leaves serve as plates 

 and are largely used in Burma for covering cheroots. The ripe fruit 

 (sebesten) is eaten either raw or pickled, also the kernels which have 

 the taste of fresh filberts. The viscid pulp of the fruit is used 

 medicinally as a demulcent, and is also employed as a bird-lime. 



2, C. crenata, Delile Fl. Egypte 195, t. 20; DC. Prod, ix, 480. C. 

 Lowriana, Brandis Ind. Trees 479. Sebestena sylvestris, P. Alp. PI. Alg. 

 ti., 17, t. . Vern. Gundi (Merwara). 



A shrub or small tree, wholly glabrous except the minutely hairy 

 inflorescence. Branches terete, suberect. Leaves bright green on both 

 sides, 1-3 in. long, elliptic or elliptic-lanceolate, rounded subacute or 

 shortly acuminate at the apex, obliquely rounded or cuneate at the base, 

 margins crenate -dentate or deeply dentate towards the apex, main 

 lateral nerves faint, 4-6 on each side, the lowest pair from near the base. 

 Flowers in small compact pedunculate cymes from the axils of the 

 uppermost leaves. Calyx tube (in flower) f in long, cylindrical : 

 fruiting calyx campanulate, in. across, glabrous outside, densely hairy 

 within, margin crenate. Drupe --in. long, ovoid, acute. 



Forests of Merwara in Rajputana (Brandis, Dec. 1878 ; Lowrie Oct. 1884; 

 Duthie Jan. 1886). Outside India it is at present known only as a cul- 

 tivated tree in kgypt, as at Cairo and Alexandria where the fruit is 

 eaten. It is undoubtedly indigenous in Rijputana, and may yet be 

 found wild in some of the higher reaches of the Nile Valley, whence 

 ripe fruits may have found their way to Egypt by water-carriage. It is 



