284: XLVII. MYRSINE^. [Mcesa. 



at the base. Berry round, smooth, white, size of a peppercorn. Seeds 

 numerous, minute, immersed in the surface of the fleshy globular placenta. 



Outer Himalayan ranges, Kamaon and Nepal 4000-6000 ft. Fl. April-May. 

 Fruit July, is eaten. 



2. EMBELIA, Burm. 



Shrubs or woody climbers. Flowers small, in simple or branched 

 slender racemes, either axillary or forming a terminal panicle. Calyx 

 free, deeply 5-lobed. Petals 5, rarely 4, distinct, spreading. Stamens 

 as many, inserted at the base of and not exceeding the petals ; filaments 

 filiform, anthers short. Ovary superior j style short ; ovules few, embed- 

 ded in a globular fleshy placenta. Fruit a dry 1 -seeded berry. 



Flowers in large terminal panicles; main lateral nerves of leaves 



numerous, indistinct 1. K Ribes. 



Flowers in axillary racemes ; main lateral nerves 6-10 pair, promi- 

 nent 2. E. rohusta. 



1. E. Ribes, Burm.; Eoxb. Fl. Ind. i. 586. Syn. E. glandulifera ; 

 Wight Ic. t. 1207. Vern. Kdrkannie, Bomb. ; Baberung, Silhet. 



A large climbing shrub ; glabrous, only branches of inflorescence densely 

 pubescent. Leaves 2-3 in. long, coriaceous, entire, shining above, paler 

 beneath, elliptic - oblong, acuminate, narrowed into a short marginate 

 petiole ; main lateral nerves numerous, parallel, not prominent ; glands 

 along midrib, petiole or edge of the leaf near base, or wanting. Flowers 

 polygamous, small, pubescent, of a greenish-yellow colour, on pubescent 

 pedicels longer than calyx, in slender racemes, forming large terminal 

 panicles. Bracts shorter than pedicels. Calyx-lobes acute. Petals elliptic, 

 acute. Stamens on short filaments, included. Berry the size of a pepper- 

 corn, black, succulent, wrinkled when dry; seed solitary, globose, aro- 

 matic and somewhat pungent. 



Common in South India, Ceylon, Burma, Bengal, and will probably be found 

 in the Satpura range. Also in China and the Indian Archipelago. In Silhet 

 the berries are collected and used to adulterate black pepper (Roxb.) The 

 berries, sold under the name of Bebrang, Babarang, Waiwarang in the bazaars 

 of India as an anthelmintic, are the fruit of this species. 



2. E. robusta, Roxb. Fl. Ind. i. 587. Syn. E. Tsjeriam cottam, 

 Wight Ic. t. 1209 ; E. Basaal, Don. Vern. Amti, Ambat, Bdrbatti, 

 Byebering, Bomb.; Bebrang, Oudh. 



A large, spreading and scrambling shrub or small tree, very variable in 

 appearance. Branchlets, petioles, under side of leaves, and racemes more 

 or less rough with rust-coloured pubescence, sometimes glabrous. Leaves 

 2-4 in. long, membranous, entire, elliptic, short-acuminate ; petioles short, 

 terete, or channeled, but not marginate ; main lateral nerves promi- 

 nent, 6-12 on either side of midrib, with shorter intermediate ones, 

 anastomosing by intramarginal veins. Flowers dioicous or polygamous, 

 greenish white, glandular-pubescent, on pedicels longer than calyx, in 

 axillary racemes varying in length, those of the male flowers longer, but 



