58 XVIII. SIMAEUB1LK [Ailanthus. 



Order XVIII. SIMARUBEiE. 



Shrubs or trees, with bitter bark, pinnate leaves without stipules, and 

 simple hairs. Flowers small, generally unisexual, regular. Calyx 3-5- 

 cleft. Petals 3-5. Stamens hypogynous, inserted at the base of disc, as 

 many as petals, or double the number; filaments free; anthers 2-celled, 

 bursting longitudinally. Carpels more or less distinct, rarely connate 

 throughout ; ovary 1-5 -celled, generally one ovule in each cell. Fruit- 

 carpels 1-seeded. Gen. PI. i. 306; Royle 111. 157 (Zanthoxylete) ; 

 Wight 111. i. 165, 169, 170. 



Stamens twice as many as petals. 



Fruit of 1-5 flat foliaceous samarse ; leaves pinnate . 1. Ailanthus. 



Fruit a 1-seeded drupe ; leaves 2-foliolate . . 2. Balanites. 



Stamens as many as petals ; leaves pinnate . . 3. Picrasma. 



1. AILANTHUS, Desfontaines. 

 Large trees, with alternate pinnate leaves approximate near the ends of 

 branches. Flowers polygamous, in large axillary panicles. Calyx small, 

 5-cleft; lobes imbricate. Petals 5, spreading, induplicate-valvate in bud. 

 Male flowers: stamens 10, inserted at the base of disc. Female flowers : 

 stamens none ; carpels 2-5, distinct, laterally compressed, 1 ovule in each ; 

 styles as many as carpels. Bisexual flowers with 2-3 stamens. Fruit con- 

 sisting of 1-5 flat, membranous, reticulate, linear-oblong samaras, each 

 with one nattish seed in the middle. Seed with scanty albumen, flat, 

 foliaceous, orbicular cotyledons, and a superior radicle. 



1. A. excelsa, Roxb. Cor. PL t. 23; Fl. Ind. ii. 450; W. & A. Prodr. 

 150; "Wight 111. t. 67. Sans. Aralu. Yern. Arua, South Meywar; 

 Maruk, Bomb. 



A large tree, leaves abruptly pinnate, more or less tomentose, commonly 

 8-12 in., sometimes 2-3 feet long; leaflets nearly opposite, 8-14 pair, ovate 

 from a very unequal base, often broadly falcate-lanceolate, deeply serrate, 

 often lobed. Flowers yellowish, in axillary panicles, shorter than leaves. 

 Petals glabrous, ovate. Filaments glabrous, shorter than anthers. Sam- 

 arse lanceolate, pointed at both ends, with numerous prominent parallel 

 nerves. (Roxburgh figures filaments longer than anthers.) 



Indigenous in Central and South India, and extensively planted throughout 

 India as far north as Saharanpur. Leafless during the early part of the cold 

 season, the new leaves appear in March, April. Fl. April, May. Easily propa- 

 gated by seed and cuttings. 60 to 80 ft. high, bark grey, wood soft, white, not 

 much used, except to make floats for fishing, pith large. 



A. glandulosa, Desf., which is at home in Japan (perhaps also in China), 

 and cultivated in Europe, differs by filaments longer than anthers, hispid 

 at the base, and petals woolly tomentose inside. The leaflets, which are 

 often 4 in. long, have generally 1-3 pair of rounded glandular teeth near the base. 

 Grows rapidly, throws up abundant root-suckers, and has on that account been 

 employed in plantations made to clothe barren, stony hills in the south of 

 France. Hardy in England. Becld. Fl. Sylv. t. 122 ; Wight Ic. 1604. 



A. malabarica, DC, a large tree of the Western Ghats, with thick rough 

 bark, is characterised by glabrous leaves ; leaflets lanceolate, entire ; filaments 



