62 XX. BURSERACE^E. [Boswellia. 



oblique base more or less deeply crenate, apex generally rounded, obtuse. 

 Flowers white, about \ inch across ; a number of racemes, or racemose 

 panicles, at the ends of branches, shorter than the leaves ; bracts small, 

 deciduous. Calyx cup-shaped, 5-7-toothed. Petals broad-ovate, shortly 

 unguiculate. Anthers 10-12, hairy. Disc fleshy, red. Stigma 4-5-lobed. 

 Bony endocarp heart-shaped, beaked, in the centre of an oblong, mem- 

 branous wing. 



Common throughout Behar, the Dekkan, to within 20 miles of the Western 

 Ghats (Dalzell), the Central Provinces, Bandelkhand, and Rajputana, in the 

 forest tracts at the foot of the Himalaya, westward as far as the Sutlej, also in 

 South India. Grows chiefly on hot, arid hills, more or less gregariously, forming 

 open forests, and often associated with Sterculia urens. Particularly abun- 

 dant on the trap hills of the Dekkan and the Satpura range. 



Deciduous, the old leaves fall about March and April, and are replaced in 

 June by the fresh foliage. The flowers appear when the tree is leafless ; some- 

 times before the old leaves fall, or after the young leaves have appeared. Rate 

 of growth generally rapid ; a tree in the Saharanpur gardens, 30 years old, 

 measured 6 ft. girth. Throws up abundant coppice-shoots when felled, and 

 grows readily from cuttings and stakes if planted during the rains. 



A moderate-sized tree, generally not more than 30 ft. high, and 5-6 ft. girth, 

 with a spreading, flat crown. Bark nearly \ in. thick, juicy when fresh, inner 

 substance brown. Outside usually greenish ash-coloured, peeling off in smooth 

 thin flakes. Wood light-coloured when fresh, darker when seasoned, soft, 

 spongy, coarse- and open-grained, 30-35 lb. per cub. ft., not durable. Used 

 chiefly as fuel. Charcoal is made of it, used for iron-smelting in Nimar. 

 From wounds and cracks in the bark exudes an abundance of transparent, fra- 

 grant gum-resin, diffusing, when burnt, an agreeable smell. It is used medicin- 

 ally and as incense in India, and sold in the bazaars under the name of Labanu, 

 Kundur, or Kundura ; but it is not the Olibanon or frankincense chiefly used 

 in Europe, which is yielded by several other species of Boswellia growing in 

 the Somali country, and on the Hadramaut hills in Arabia, and described by 

 Dr Bird wood in Trans. Linn. Soc. xxvii. 111. 



I only know one sp. of Bosivellia in Central India, well represented by 

 Roxburgh's and Beddome's figures of B. glabra. There is, however, a difficulty 

 in Roxburgh's description of B. glabra in the text of the Coromandel plants. 

 He says, " It is one of the largest trees, with a hard, heavy, and durable wood. 

 The lower masts of coast-built vessels are generally made of it, though its weight 

 renders it less fit than fir or teak." These remarks would not apply to Salai, 

 and Roxburgh's description may possibly refer to another species. 



2. GARUGA, Roxb. 



Trees with alternate imparipinnate leaves, crowded at the ends of 

 branches. Flowers polygamous. Calyx campanulate, 5-cleft, valvate, 

 inside lined by a thin disc with a crenate margin. Petals 5, inserted 

 in the calyx-tube above the middle. Stamens 10, perigynous, inserted 

 below the petals. Ovary ovoid, 4-5-celled ; stigma capitate, 4-5-lobed ; 

 2 collateral ovules in each cell. Fruit a globose fleshy drupe, with 5 or 

 fewer bony nuts. Seeds solitary in each nut ; cotyledons thin, twisted. 



1. G. pinnata, Roxb. Tab. XIII PI. Corom. t. 208; Fl. Ind. ii. 

 400; W. & A. Prodr. 175; Bedd. Fl. Sylv. t. 118. Yern. Kharpat 

 (grass-leaf), Katmanna, Mtmirria, kilmira, karohi, Jcatula, sarota, Pb., 



