94 XXV. RHAMNKE. [Rhamnus. 



persistent stipules, axillary, solitary, pentamerous flowers without petals, on 

 slender pedicels, is found between 7000 and 8000 ft. about Simla, on the Deoban 

 range, and in Kamaon. 



4. HOVENIA, Thunb. 



A tree, unarmed j leaves alternate, without stipules. Flowers in axil- 

 lary pedunculate cymes, pentamerous, bisexual. Calyx broad-obconical ; 

 segments ovate, thick, with an elevated median line inside, deciduous after 

 flowering. Petals shortly unguiculate, obovate-spathulate. Stamens op- 

 posite to petals on the edge of disc ; anthers attached at the back, 2-celled, 

 bursting longitudinally. Disc fleshy, coating the calyx-tube, surrounding 

 the ovary, densely woolly. Ovary 3-celled, with an erect ovule in each 

 cell, narrowed into 3 erect styles, more or less coherent. Drupe nearly dry, 

 3-celled, 3-seeded ; endocarp thin, crustaceous, brittle. Seeds with a hard, 

 shining, dark olive green, thick testa, a fleshy albumen, a straight embryo, 

 with flat foliaceous, orbicular cotyledons. 



1. H. dulcis, Thunb. ; Siebold et Zuccarini, Flora Jap onica, t. 73, 74 j 

 Roxb. Fl. Ind. i. 630. Vern. Chamhun, Ravi. Pb. 



Pubescent ; leaves alternate, deciduous, petiolate, ovate, long-acuminate, 

 serrate, with 3-5 lateral, often alternate nerves on either side of midrib, 

 the lowest pair proceeding from the base. Flowers white. The ramifica- 

 tions of cymes and fruit-stalks swell into an irregularly and unevenly 

 oblong fleshy mass, much and variously bent, sweet-aromatic, the pedicels 

 remaining dry and slender. 



Commonly cultivated in Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan, Assam, China, and Japan, 

 also here and there in Kamaon, and (rarely) in the Panjab Himalaya (a few miles 

 north of Chamba, at 4000 ft., and, according to Falconer, but not found since, 

 in Hazara). Wallich considered the tree indigenous in Nepal, and Eoyle states 

 that it certainly is wild at 6500 ft. in forests near Mussoori ; but Buchanan (in 

 1802) wrote from Katmandu that the tree was originally brought from China, 

 or some country subject to China. Grows to be a moderate-sized tree, 30 ft. 

 high, with an erect, straight stem, attaining a large girth, and a large broad, 

 rounded crown. Fl. April-May ; the fruit ripens in July. The wood is light- 

 coloured, coarse and open-grained. The tree is cultivated on account of its 

 fruit, which has a pleasant flavour, like that of a Bergamot pear. 



5. SAGERETIA, Brongniart. 



Unarmed or spinescent shrubs, with leaves and angular branches 

 generally opposite, or the upper alternate, penniveined leaves and 

 small deciduous stipules. Flowers small, pentamerous, bisexual, in small 

 sessile clusters, supported by bracts, in terminal or axillary panicles. 

 Calyx flat; segments keeled inside, persistent. Disc lining the calyx, up- 

 per part free, thick, fleshy, annular or cup-shaped. Petals and stamens 

 inserted on the calyx. Petals short-clawed. Ovary 3-celled, narrowed 

 into 3 short coherent styles. Fruit a drupe with 3 coriaceous, indehiscent 

 kernels. Seeds completely filling the kernels, with a straight embryo, 

 cotyledons foliaceous, enclosed by a thin fleshy albumen. 



I 



