

64 XX. BURSERACKffl. [Bahamodendron. 



scanty arborescent vegetation of the arid hills of Sindh and Rajputana ; and it 

 is not impossible that a better knowledge of them, and increased attention 

 paid to them, may eventually lead to increased production of a valuable article 

 of commerce. Two species only are yet known from North- West India ; a third, 

 though indigenous in South India, is added to guard against misconception. 



Leaves usually unifoliolate 1. B. Mukul. 



Leaves ternate or imparipinnate. 



Unarmed . . 2. B. jmbescens. 



Thorny 3. B. Berryi. 



1. B. Mukul, Hook. ; Stocks in Hooker's Journal of Botany, i. 

 (1849) t. 8 ; Boissier El. Orient, ii. 3. Yern. Gugal, Sindh. 



Branches frequently spiniform; leaves generally approximate at the 

 end of thick, short, tuberculate or woody branchlets, smooth and shining, 

 obovate, almost sessile, the tapering base entire, the upper part shallow- 

 toothed. On luxuriant shoots, the leaves are alternate, cuneate-obovate, 

 rhomboid or oval, acute, deeply serrate, with a petiole, from the summit 

 of which spring one or two lateral leaflets, smaller than the terminal leaflet, 

 sometimes minute ; young leaves, while in the bud, covered with glandular 

 hairs, which soon drop off. Flowers small, subsessile, 2 or 3 together at 

 the end of branchlets, unisexual. Males with ovary short and barren ; 

 females with short stamens and imperfect anthers. Calyx cylindrical, 

 supported by 3 minute bracts, covered with glandular hairs ; tube splitting 

 as the ovary swells, remaining withered at the base of the fruit. Petals 

 4-5, strap-shaped, brownish red, tips curled back. Disc 8-10-toothed, 

 bearing 8-10 filaments, alternately longer, the short filaments inserted in 

 the sinus between the teeth, opposite to the petals. Stigma obscurely 2- 

 lobed. Drupe red when ripe, ovate, acuminate, separating into 2 fleshy 

 valves, leaving the nut enveloped by a 4-cleft yellow pulp (mesocarp), 

 the lobes of which meet at the apex. Nuts ovoid, acute, readily splitting 

 into two, each 1 -celled. Drupes rarely 4-valved, 4 nuts, and 8-cleft pulp. 



Abundant on rocky ground in Sindh, Kattiawar, at Deesa, in Beluchistan, 

 and probably in Arabia. In Sindh it flowers in March and April ; the leaves 

 and young shoots appear in May. A small tree, 4-6 ft. high or more, generally 

 a stunted bush, with thick-spreading branches. Trunk and branches knotty and 

 crooked, with the ash-coloured bark coming off in rough flakes, leaving exposed 

 the under bark, which is bright and shining, and peels off in rolls like thin 

 paper. Wood light-coloured, even-grained, but soft and light, takes a fine 

 polish. Dr Stocks gives the following account of the collection of the gum, 

 which is known as Indian Bdellium : 



" In Sindh the Googul is collected in the cold season by making incisions with 

 a knife in the tree, and letting the resin fall on the ground. It exudes in large 

 tears, soft and opaque, hardens, and turns brownish black very slowly ; a single 

 tree is said to yield from half to a whole seer. It is brought to the bazaars of 

 Hyderabad and Kurrachee, where it sells at the rate of 2 Rs. the maund of 80 

 lb. (1849)." 



Nearly related to it, and probably the same species, is a shrub which I 

 found on rocky hills in Rajputana in Dec. 1869 and Jan. 1870, with old leaves 

 and unripe fruit, near Kishengurh, N.E. of Ajmir, and near Bednore, S.W. of 

 that city, in both places under the name of Gicgal, yielding a fragrant 

 gum-resin. The leaves are deep-dentate, and have peculiar, round, whitish 



