28 XL DIPTEROCAKPE^E. [Shorea 



age ; in old trees the branches spread at the top. Of young trees the bark is mo- 

 derately smooth, occasionally with a few long deep vertical cracks. The bark of 

 old trees is 1-2 in. thick, dark-coloured and rough, with longitudinal furrows. 



The wood of the Sal tree has a distinct sapwood, small, about 1-2 in. thick, 

 whitish, not durable. The heartwood is dark brown, coarse-grained, hard, 

 heavy, strong, and tough, with a remarkably fibrous and cross-grained structure. 

 The fibres of successive concentric strata do not run parallel, but at oblique 

 angles to each other ; so that when the wood is dressed, the fibres appear inter- 

 laced. Medullary rays numerous, narrow ; pores very numerous, moderate, uni- 

 formly distributed. The weight of a cub. ft. (seasoned) is generally found to 

 vary between 50 and 60 lb. ; but extreme cases are on record of weights as low 

 as 40, and as high as 69 lb. The transverse strength has been tested by nume 

 rous experiments. The average value of P (coefficient of transverse strength), 

 as determined by Baker, Cunningham, Clifford, and others, ranges from 609 to 

 972 ; and in a large series of experiments with Sal timber from different sources 

 made by me in Calcutta in 1864 and 1865, with the assistance of Mr Clifford 

 and Baboo Tincowry Ghose, the mean value of P was found to fluctuate between 

 708 and 916. Sal timber takes a long time to season ; and after it has been sea- 

 soned and worked up, it is apt to split and warp with the change of dry and wet 

 seasons. Its durability is considerable, though not equal to that of Teak. In 

 Lower Bengal it is liable to be eaten by white ants. For building, gun-carriages, 

 river-boats, and railway-sleepers, it is the most important timber of North India. 

 Sal timber cannot be floated without the assistance of boats or floats of lighter 

 woods. Semul {Bombax malabaricum) is often used for that purpose. 



The tree, when tapped, exudes large quantities of a whitish, aromatic, trans- 

 parent resin or dammar (ral, dhuna), which is collected and sold ; is used to 

 caulk boats and ships, and also as incense. Large extents of Sal forest have 

 been destroyed by the practice of tapping the trees for this purpose. 



Order XII. MALVACE-ffi. 



Herbs, shrubs, or trees, with a soft light wood; young parts mostly 

 covered with stellate hairs. Leaves stipulate, alternate, generally palmi- 

 nerved. Flowers large, purple pink or yellow, regular, generally bisexual. 

 Sepals generally 5, more or less connate, valvate in bud. Petals 5, hypo- 

 gynous, usually adnate to staminal column, twisted and imbricate in 

 bud. Stamens indefinite, monadelphous ; anthers 1 - celled, bursting 

 lengthwise. Ovary syncarpous; carpels generally numerous, usually in 

 one whorl round a conical torus. Fruit either a dehiscent capsule or a 

 number of distinct carpels. Seeds solitary few or numerous, in most 

 cases without albumen. Gen. PL i. 195; Royle 111. 83; "Wight 111. i. 

 55, 66 (Bombacese). 



Bracteoles 4-6, enlarged in fruit, forming an epicalyx or involucel 1. Kydia. 

 Bracteoles wanting. 



Fruit large, woody, filled with pulp 2. Adansonia. 



Capsule 5-valved, densely woolly inside . . . . .3. Bombax. 



Hibiscus Rosa - Siriensis (Shoe-flower) from China, the Moluccas; H. 

 Sabdarifa (Rosette, Red Sorrel), from the West Indies ; H esculent us, the 

 edible Hibiscus (OJrra, Bendi), from the West Indies ; and GossypiumUer- 

 baceum (Cotton), are well-known cultivated plants, and require no notice 

 here. Thespesia Lampas, Benth. and Hook. f. Syn. Hibiscus Lampas, 



