EHEETIA.] BOEAGINACE^. 87 



young leaves from February to April. DISTBIB. In deciduous forests 

 throughout India and in Ceylon, ascending to 3,000 ft. on the Himalaya ; 

 also in Baluchistan Persia, China and Australia. The grey or brownish- 

 grey wood is tough and durable and is used for agricultural implements 

 and for building purposes. The insipid fruit also the inner bark are eaten 

 during famine times, and the leaves afford good fodder. The leaves 

 are said to be employed in N. Oudh as a substitute for pan. In the 

 Flora of Brit. India descriptions of five varieties or forms of this 

 polymorphous species are given. E. floribunda has acuminate and 

 softly pubescent and ciliate leaves, and the flowers are arranged in 

 large axillary corymbs towards the ends of the branches, often forming 

 quasi-panicles 6 in. in diam. In E. pubescens, which is a more than 

 usually pubescent form, the leaves (even when mature) are softly hairy 

 beneath and scabrous and often hairy above, thus indicating an approach 

 to E. aspera of Roxburgh. 



3. E. aspera, Roxb. Cor. PL i, 41, t. 55 ; Fl. Ind. t, 598, Coolce n, 204. 

 E. obtusifolia, Hcchst. ; ttrand. For. FL 340 ; Ind. Trees 481 ; Clarice in F. 

 B. I- iv, 142 ; Gamble Man. Ind. Timb. 504 ; E. laevis, var. aspera, Clarice 

 in F. B. I. l.c. 



A shrub, usually with short terete glabrous branches which are downy 

 when young. Leaves variable, f-2 in. long, obovate spathulate or 

 elliptic-oblong, rounded retuse or shortly acuminate at the apex, 

 scabrous and sometimes slightly hairy on the upper surface, persistently 

 hairy, petioles -f in. long. Flowers white or blueish, in dense apparent- 

 ly terminal corymbose cymes, afterwards becoming paniculate lax and 

 lateral. Calyx ^ in. long, hairy outside ; lobes T V in. long, ovate-oblong, 

 Bubacute, ciliate. Corolla-tube longer than the calyx; lobes about 

 equalling the tube, oblong, obtuse. Ovary ovoid, style bifid from 

 below the middle, stigma capitate. Drupe in. across, depressed- 

 globose, smooth, containing usually 4 bony pyrenes. 



Merwara in Eajputana and in Kheri district of N. Oudh. Flowers March" 

 May. DISTRIB. Punjab, on the Salt Range, and in the Deccan country 

 of Bombay, extending to' the drier parts of S. India and Upper Burma / 

 also in Baluchistan, Afghanistan and Abyssinia. The wood resembles 

 that of E. Iceris. 



3. COLDENIA, Linn. ; Fl. Brit. Ind. iv, 144. 



Branching diffuse or \ rostrate scabrous heibs. Zeares alternate, 

 small, often crisjed or plicate. Flowers white or yellcw, axillary, 

 sessile or i e*rly PO, the ujrper often in ore-siced ppikes. Calyx 

 4-5-partite, lobes lanceolate or lireftr. Corolla-tube Bhort, funnel- 

 shaped ; lobes 4-5, spreading, imbricate in bud. Stamens 4-5, on the 

 corolla-tube, included. Ovary 2-oelled, with two ovules in each cell, 

 or 4-celled and with a single, o^nle in each cell, styles 2, district 



