378 LX1I. LAURINKSS. [Machih 



segments, persistent, but not changed in fruit. Stamens biseriate, the 

 outer series of 6 perfect stamens, opposite to the segments of the perianth, 

 anthers introrse, 4-celled, the cells opening upwards by valves ; the inner 

 series of 3 perfect stamens with twin glands at their base and extrorse 

 anthers, alternating with 3 short staminodia ; stamens and staminodia of 

 the inner opposite to the stamens of the outer series. Ovary free ; style 

 filiform, stigma discoid. Fruit a 1 -seeded berry, supported by the per- 

 sistent, often reflexed, segments of the perianth. 



1. M. odoratissima, Nees. Syn. Laurus odoratissima, Wall. Vern. 

 Dalchmi, mith-patta (sweet leaf ), prora, badror, Pb. ; Kdwala, N.W.P. 



A middle-sized or large tree with deep-green foliage. Leaves glabrous, 

 shining, lanceolate, 6-9 in. long, petiole J in. long, main lateral nerves 

 15-20 on either side of midrib, often alternating with shorter intermedi- 

 ate nerves, veins very finely and uniformly reticulate, raised so as to leave 

 minute hollows between. Flowers pale yellow, fragrant. Perianth J in. 

 long, the inner segments a little longer than the outer ones, peduncles, 

 pedicels and outside of perianth with soft silky hairs. Berry ovoid, J in. 

 long, dark purple when ripe. 



Outer Himalayan ranges, ascending to 7000 ft. in the north-west, and to 8000 

 ft. in Sikkim. Is found, although rare, as far north as Hazara. Kasia hills, 

 Burma. Fl. March-Aug. The leaves have a pleasant orange-like aroma, they 

 have frequently small rounded excrescences. 



M. macrantha, Nees ; Bedd. Fl. Sylv. t. 264 ; Wight Ic. t. 1824 (probably 

 the same species as M. glaucescens, Wight Ic. t. 1825), a small tree with 

 elliptic thick-coriaceous glaucous leaves, grows on the Western Ghats, and the 

 Nilgiris (Dalzell Bombay Fl. 221). 



Perseagratissima, Gaertn. ; Wight Ic. t. 1823 ; Bot. Mag. t. 4580 ; the Avo- 

 cado or Alligator Pear, is a large tree, indigenous in South America, introduced 

 into tropical India (fr. July- Aug. in Calcutta), has paniculate greenish-white 

 flowers, similar to those of Machilus, and a pear-shaped fruit 4-6 in. long, with 

 a large seed in a soft butyraceous pulp. The perianth falls off before the fruit 

 ripens. In the West Indies and South America the fruit is eaten raw or as a 



vegetable. 



4. BEILSCHMIEDIA, Nees. 



Trees with subopposite or alternate penniveined leaves. Flowers bisex- 

 ual, in short axillary racemes. Perianth deeply 6-cleft, deciduous. Outer 

 circle of 6 perfect stamens, opposite to the segments of the perianth, gen- 

 erally alternating with small glands ; anthers introrse, the inner circle of 

 3 perfect stamens, with lateral, semi-extrorse anthers alternating with 3 

 short staminodia; anthers 2-celled, valves opening upwards. Ovary in- 

 completely 2-celled, with 3 ovules ; style filiform, "stigma discoid. Fruit 

 a dry oblong 1 -seeded berry, base incompletely 2-celled. 



1. B. Roxburghiana, Nees ; DC. Pjodr. xv. i. 63 ; Wight Ic. t. 1828. 

 Syn. Laurus bilocularis, Eoxb. Fl. Ind. ii. 311. Vern. Konhaiah, 

 Oudh. 



h, 



