Diospyros.'] XLIX. EBENACE^E. 297 



ing, branchlets drooping. Bark \ in. thick, dark grey to rusty brown, smooth, 

 rough in old trees from exfoliating scales. Inner bark woody, not fibrous, light 

 yellow, turning orange, astringent. Wood beautifully variegated with black and 

 white streaks, hard and durable, a beautiful furniture-wood. Twigs and leaves 

 lopped for fodder in Ouclh. The fruit has an unpleasant smell, a bitter taste, 

 and a viscid bitter pulp ; it is not eaten. 



D. lancecefolia, Roxb. Fl. Ind. ii. 537, Hiern, 1. c. 213, is a moderate-sized 

 tree, with coriaceous, oblong or lanceolate, acuminate leaves, narrowed at the 

 base, male flowers fascicled in short cymes, corolla tubular, and tomentose sub- 

 globose fruit 1 in. long, Eastern Bengal, noted by Madden, 1. c. 378 (vern. Ar- 

 dinia), from the Kota Doon in Kamaon, which requires confirmation. 



3. D. Chloroxylon, Roxb. Cor. PI. t. 49 ; Fl. Ind. ii. 538. Syn. D. 

 eapitulata, Wight Ic. t. 1224, 1588 (bis). Vern. Ninai, Surat, Nasik. 



A tree or large shrub, with deeply-cracked bark ; tomentose, sometimes 

 armed with spinescent branchlets. Leaves alternate, 1-2 in. long, elliptic 

 obovate- or elliptic-oblong, pubescent above, with rust-coloured tomentum 

 beneath. Flowers white, tetramerous, the male subsessile, in compact, 

 sessile axillary fascicles of 6-10 flowers ; bracts ovate. Calyx nearly to the 

 base 4-cleft, lobes rounded, acute, strigose outside with stiff hairs. Corolla 

 glabrous, except 4 lines of hairs outside. Stamens 16, glabrous, in 2 rows, 

 the inner smaller, inserted on the base of the corolla, anthers broad- oblong 

 or ovate-oblong, as long as filaments. Female flowers solitary, sessile or 

 subsessile. Calyx strigose outside, corolla glabrous, ciliate with long stiff 

 hairs at the edges of lobes. Staminodes 7-9, glabrous. Ovary glabrous, 

 8-celled, 1 ovule in each cell. Styles 4. Fruit globose, ^ in. diam., eat- 

 able. Seeds 2-3, albumen uniform. 



South India, as far as Orissa on the east, and Guzerat on the west coast. Fl. 

 June. Wood yellow, hard and durable. 



4. D. Lotus, Linn. Tab. XXX VI- Vern. Amlok, amlulc, maluk 

 (the male tree Gtvaliddr), Pb. 



A middle-sized tree, nearly glabrous, young branchlets and under side 

 of young leaves only strigose with scattered hairs. Leaves alternate, 3-6 

 in. long, ovate- or elliptic-oblong, acuminate ; main lateral nerves 6-8 pair, 

 petioles J in. long. Flowers tetramerous, rarely pentamerous. Calyx half- 

 way down 4-lobed, lobes obtuse, ciliate. Corolla glabrous, lobes obtuse, 

 ciliate at the edges. Male flowers nearly sessile, in small axillary or 

 extra-axillary sessile clusters of 2-3 flowers. Stamens 16, in 2 series, fila- 

 ments short ; anthers lanceolate, cuspidate, hispid along the connective on 

 both faces. Female flowers solitary, nearly sessile, staminodes 8, in 1 

 series, hairy. Ovary glabrous, hairy near apex only, 8-celled ; styles 4. 

 Fruit dark purple or blackish when ripe, shining, glaucous with bluish 

 bloom, globose or ovoid, J-f in. diam., supported by the enlarged, coria- 

 ceous, flat spreading calyx. Seed compressed, albumen uniform. 



Wild, not uncommon in the western part of the Jhelam basin from the 

 western end of the Kashmir valley at Baramula, to the Indus at 2500-6000 ft. 



