- 



448 LXIX. EUPHOKBIACE^E. [Bux 



range, common here and there in the N.W. Himalaya between 4000 and 800C 

 ft. {e.g., in Khagan ; on the Euttun Pir and near Punch in Kashmir ; opposite 

 Chergaon on the left bank of the Sutlej in Kunawar, &c. Also in Bhutan, at 

 about 6000-7000 ft. A widely spread tree, Central and South Europe, Nortl 

 and West Asia. China and Japan. 



Fl. March-May. The fruit ripens Aug.-Oct., the open empty capsules remain 

 ing on the tree a long time. Gregarious, attains 15-16 ft, with a short, erect 

 straight trunk 20-30 in. girth, generally stunted from lopping. Growth slow 

 15-20 rings per inch of radius. Bark ^-\ in. thick, somewhat corky in texture, 

 grey or yellowish, often irregularly tesselated in small polygonal plates by 

 wrinkles and deep furrows. Wood yellowish-white or grey, no distinct heart- 

 wood, but the colour often deeper near the centre. Very close-grained, compact 

 and heavy. Himalayan Boxwood resembles that from Europe, Smyrna, anc: 

 the Black Sea in structure and mechanical properties ; the pores are uniformly 

 distributed, exceedingly fine and numerous ; its weight is 60-65 lb. per cub. ft. 

 The use of Boxwood for engraving, carving, turning, and mathematical in- 

 struments is well known : the Himalayan wood has by some authorities been 

 stated to be softer and less fitted for these purposes ; others, again, have found 

 it equal to the best wood from Europe and western Asia. Boxwood to be 

 used for engraving, requires careful and lengthened seasoning. In the N.W 

 Himalaya small boxes for butter, honey, snuff, and tinder are made of it, 

 and in the plains it is carved into combs. The branches of the Himalayan Box 

 are often placed on roofs of houses in the hills under the layer of earth with 

 which they are covered, and last well when thus employed. The leaves are 

 poisonous to cattle'; only goats eat them sparingly with impunity. In the south 

 of France the leaves are largely used as manure in vineyards. 



Baillon (Monographic des Buxacees, Paris, 1859) and Miiller, DC. Prodr. xvi. 

 i. 18, distinguish the Himalayan Box as a distinct species, under the name of 

 B. Wallichiana, the difference mainly consisting in the length of the styles. 

 The unpleasant smell of the flowers is also noticed in the Box grown in France 

 (Mathieu Fl. For. 21 1). 



Sarcococca saligna, Mull. Arg. Syn. Buxus saligna, Don Fl. Nep. 63 ; S. 

 pruniformis, Lindley Bot. Eeg. t. 1012 ; S. trinervia, W. Ic. t. 1877 ; Lepido- 

 delma podocarpifolia, Klotzsch in Beise des Prinzen Waldemar, t. 22 is a small 

 evergreen glabrous shrub with alternate lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate leaves, 

 more or less distinctly triplinerved, yellowish-white flowers in short axillary 

 racemes, a few female flowers at the base of the racemes, and small purple ovoid 

 berries. Afghanistan, Himalaya at 4000-7000 ft., Kasia hills, Nilgiris and 

 western coast. Fl. March- May. 



10. BRIEDELIA, Willd. 



Trees, shrubs, or climbers; leaves alternate, short-petiolate, generally 

 distichous, with prominent parallel lateral nerves. Flowers monoicous, 

 subsessile, in axillary clusters ; bracteoles numerous between the flowers. 

 Calyx-tube more or less turbinate, often short and flat ; segments 5, val- 

 vate in bud. Petals 5, smaller than calyx-segments. Male fl. : stamens 

 5, inserted on a central column, placed on a flat sinuate disc. Female fl. : 

 ovary 2-celled, the base enclosed in the calyx-tube, and surrounded by an 

 inner membranous, cup-shaped, or tubular disc, variously lobed or lacin- 

 iate, which is inserted at the mouth of the calyx-tube, and is generally 

 surrounded at its base by an outer fleshy annular disc ; styles 2, bifid, more 

 or less connate at the base. Fruit a "berry, enclosing 2 indehiscent cocci. 



