





Balsamodendron.] XX. BURSEEACE^. 65 



vesiculose blotches, as if the epidermis had separated from the cellular tissue 

 below. Specimens exactly corresponding with those collected by me in Rajpu- 

 tana are in the Kew Herb, from the Peninsula, apparently from the Bellary 

 district. Madden, Journ. As. Soc. xvii. pt. i. 404, also; mentions a Balsamodendron 

 from Rajputana. In the Supplement to the ' Bombay Flora,' by Dalzell and 

 Gibson, a similar shrub is described from Khandeish, under the name of B. Rox- 

 burghii, probably the same plant. It is said there, p. 20 : " The whole plant is 

 aromatic, abounding in a viscid balsamic juice, which is exported in considerable 

 quantities from Oomrawuttee." This species will probably be found to be indi- 

 genous, on arid, rocky hills throughout Rajputana and a great part of the Dekkan. 

 However, in order to avoid the possibility of a mistake, the preceding descrip- 

 tion of B. muhul has been based exclusively upon Dr Stocks's paper, and the 

 specimens collected in Sindh. 



2. B. pubescens, Stocks 1. c. t. 9 ; Boiss. Fl. Or. ii. 2. Vern. Bayi, 

 ai, Beluchistan. 



A small tree or stunted shrub. Unarmed, pubescent ; leaves trifoliolate, 

 on slender petioles longer than leaflets, terminal leaflet stalked, generally 

 fascicled on short tuberculate branchlets, but alternate on vigorous shoots, 

 and then often imparipinnate ; leaflets ovate or obovate, entire. Petals 

 red or white. Stamens equal. Drupe red, valves 2, each cleft half-way 

 up from below ; mesocarp orange-coloured, 4-toothed, not reaching to the 

 apex of the nut. 



Beluchistan, and hills which separate that country from Sindh, as far south as 

 Karachi. The young shoots and buds are remarkably fragrant when bruised. 

 In the cold season it yields a small quantity of tasteless, inodorous, brittle gum, 

 almost entirely soluble in water. Fl. in March and April ; leaves and young 

 hoots appear in April and May. 



3. B. Berryi, Arnott ; Ann. of Nat. Hist. iii. 86 (1839). Syn. Protium 

 Gileadense, W. & A. Prodr. 177. 



Most lateral branches terminating in thorns at right angles to main 

 branch ; leaves alternate or fascicled on short tubercular branchlets, trifoli- 

 olate, on slender petioles ; leaflets sessile, obovate, the terminal one twice 

 as large as the lateral ones, glabrous, generally entire. Flowers subsessile, 

 fascicled ; calyx 3-4-cleft ; petals 3-4. Disc small, bearing 6-8 stamens 

 alternately smaller, the larger ones opposite to petals ; in the male flowers 

 stamens longer than calyx. Drupe oblong, apiculate. 



A small or middle-sized tree in the dry forests east of the Nilgiris, and culti- 

 vated as a hedge-plant all over South India. The whole tree has a grateful frag- 

 rance. 



B. Gileadense, Kunth = B. Opobalsamum, Kunth, Oliver Fl. Trop. Africa 

 i. 326 ; Boiss. 1. c. 2, believed to be one of the Myrrh-yielding species, is a small 

 unarmed tree, with 3-5 leaflets, in Nubia and Arabia. 



Order XXI. MELIACE^]. 



Trees and shrubs, with alternate, generally pinnate, leaves, without stip- 

 ules. Flowers regular, small, bisexual, a large proportion sterile, in 

 large panicles, frequently with determinate inflorescence. Calyx small, 



E 



