ELMAG^ACEM. 59 



the constriction. Stamens 4, on the mouth of the perianth. Style 

 linear, included. Fruit enclosed in the persistent accrescent 

 usually berry -like perianth-base, pericarp thin. Seed with a hard 

 shining testa. Species 12, in S. Europe, Temp, and Trop. Asia, 

 Australia and N. America. 



E. latifolia, Linn. Sp. PL 121 ; Brandis For. Fl. 390, t. 46 ; 

 Ind. Trees 547 ; F. B. I. v, 202 ; Watt E. D. ; Kanjilal For. FL 

 (ed. 2), 334 ; Gamble Man. 581 ; Prain Beng. PL 908 ; Cooke FL 

 Bomb. M, 543 ; E. conCerta, Roxb. FL Ind. i, 440 ; Royle III. 323. 

 E. arborea, Roxb. L c. 441 ; Don. Prod. 67. Vern. Ghiwai. 



A much-branched evergreen usually scandent shrub ; branches often 

 spinescent ; young shoots densely clothed with shining rust-coloured 

 scales. Leaves variable, thin or more or less coriaceous, 3-5 in. long, 

 broadly elliptic to lanceolate, obtuse, acute or acuminate ; upper 

 surface pale-green, scurfy, the lower coated with silvery white or rust- 

 coloured glistening scales ; lateral nerves 6-8 pairs ; base acute or 

 rounded ; petioles scaly, J-J in. long. Flowers usually many in a 

 cluster, straw-coloured, scented ; pedicels elongating in fruit. Peri- 

 anth J in. long, clothed with silvery scales, as are the pedicels ; lobes^ 

 | in. long, ovate, acute, spreading. Style hairy. Fruit crowned by 

 the upper free portion of the perianth, about 1 in. long, ellipsoid or 

 pear-shaped with 8 strong blunt ribs, pinkish when ripe and rough 

 with small white spots ; endocarp white, woolly within. Seed J in. 

 long. 



Dehra Dun, usually in swampy ground (Kanjilal) ; also in the Sub- 

 Himalayan tracts eastwards. Flowers Nov. -Feb., and the fruit 

 ripens during May and June. DISTRIB. : Subtrop. Himalaya from 

 the Sutlej to the Mishmi Hills, ascending to about 8,000ft., and from 

 Bengal and the Konkan southwards to Ceylon ; extending to 

 Burma, the Malay Peninsula and China. The sub -acid astringent 

 fruit is much eaten by the village people and is sometimes used as a 

 preserve. The wood affords a good fuel. 



XCVII.-LORANTHACEJE. 



Evergreen parasitic shrubs. Leaves opposite, usually entire,, 

 coriaceous, exstipulate, sometimes absent. Flowers 2-or 1 -sexual* 

 in racemes spikes heads or fascicles ; bracts usually scale-like, 

 bracteoles usually 2. Perianth simple or double. Sepals, or simple 



