Ailanthus.] XVIII. SIMAKUBE/E. 59 



glabrous, longer than anthers, and a linear-oblong samara, rounded at both ends; 

 yields a resin, matti 2^dl, used in medicine and as incense (Pharm. Ind. 50). 



Ailai 



glabi 

 yield 



2. BALANITES, Deliie. 

 Shrubs or small trees, usually armed with axillary or supra-axillary 

 spines ; leaves 2-foliolate ; leaflets entire, coriaceous. Flowers bisexual ; 

 sepals and petals 5. Stamens 10, inserted at the base of disc; anthers 

 dorsally affixed. Ovary globose, pilose, 5-celled, on the thick, fleshy, 10- 

 furrowed disc; ovules 1 in each cell. Fruit a 1-seeded drupe, with a bony 

 or crustaceous putamen. Seed without albumen ; cotyledons thick, plano- 

 convex, oblong. 



1. B. Roxburghii, Planchon. Syn. B. cegyptlaca, Wight Ic. t. 274; 

 Ximenia cegyptiaca, Roxb. Fl. Ind. ii. 253. Vera. Hrngu, Ingua, Hin- 

 gen, Hingot, Hingota, Ingol. 



Thorns axillary, strong, very sharp, often long, leaf- and flower-bearing ; 

 young parts pubescent, in dry localities hoary-tomentose. Leaflets lanceo- 

 late, oblong or obovate, nearly sessile, on a common petiole less than \ 

 length of leaflets. Flowers small, white, or greenish white, fragrant, 

 crowded in fascicles, axillary and along lateral branches. Sepals oval, 

 downy, nearly as long as petals, both spreading, reflexed, and eventually 

 deciduous. Style erect, short ; stigma slightly 5-lobed. Drupe ovoid, 2 

 in. long, 5-grooved, covered with a light-grey dry rind, enclosing a bitter 

 pulp with an offensive greasy smell : nut exceedingly hard, tubercled out- 

 side, 1-seeded. 



Common in many parts of India, as far north as Delhi ; in Eajputana, 

 Bandelkhand, the Central Provinces, the Northern Circars, the Dekkan, and South 

 India ; grows chiefly in open dry places and on stiff clay soil. New leaves in 

 March. Fl. in April and May. Usually a scraggy shrub, in favourable condi- 

 tions a small tree, 30 ft. high, with an erect, short trunk, 2 ft. and more in girth. 

 The roots spread far, and throw up suckers at a considerable distance from the 

 trunk. Bark of trunk smooth, yellow or cinereous. Wood chiefly used for fuel. 

 From the seed a fixed oil is pressed ; the pulp is used to clean silk in Rajputana ; 

 the seeds, the bitter bark, and subacid leaves are employed in native medicine; 

 the hard kernel of the fruit (filled with gunpowder) is used in fireworks. 



The second species of this genus, B. oegyptiaca, Delile, Boissier Fl. Orient, 

 i. 944, Oliver Flora Trop. Afr. i. 315 ; Palestine, Egypt, Arabia, and tropical 

 Africa, has longer petioles, and the ovary lengthens out considerably after 

 flowering. In the Indian plant the ovary swells^ but remains ovoid and short. 

 It is, however, a matter for further inquiry, whether all Indian forms belong to 

 one species. 



3. PICRASMA, Blume. 

 Trees, all parts very bitter, with alternate imparipinnate leaves. 

 Flowers unisexual, in corymbose panicles. Calyx small, 4-5-dentate. 

 Petals 4-5, ovate, valvate. Male flowers with 4-5 stamens, inserted under 

 the disc. Carpels 3-5, distinct, on a thick disc ; ovules solitary. Fruit 

 consisting of 1-3, nearly dry, drupes ; seeds with a straight embryo in a 

 fleshy albumen. 



1. P. quassioides, Bennett. Syn. Nima quassioides, Hamilton. Vera. 





