490 LXXII. CUPULIFERiE. [Caslanopsis. 



Leaves entire, glabrous ; involucre tomentose, with stout stellate 



and branching spines 1. C tribuloides. 



Leaves serrate, tomentose beneath 2. G. indica. 



1. C. tribuloides, Alph. DC; Prodr. xvi. ii. 111. Syn. Querents armata, 

 Eoxb. Cor. PL t. 296; El. Ind. iii. 640; Wight Ic. t. 770. Q. ferox, 

 Eoxb. 1. c. 639 ; Wight Ic. t. 218. Vern. Tumari, hatonj, Kamaon ; 

 Kanta singar, Assam ; Singhara, Tipperah ; Kyantsa, Burm. 



A large evergreen tree, youngest shoots slightly pubescent, leaf-buds 

 open, with erect lanceolate scales. Leaves entire, firm-coriaceous, glab- 

 rous, shining, pale beneath, lanceolate, 3-6 in. long, narrowed into short 

 petiole, main lateral nerves 8-12 pair. Flowers in erect paniculate pubes- 

 cent spikes, male and female flowers on distinct spikes, but generally in 

 the same panicle. Male flowers sessile, solitary, or 3-5 together, in small 

 clusters ; perianth of 6 segments ; stamens 1 2, on long filaments, surround- 

 ing a tomentose rudimentary ovary. Styles long, linear, erect. Fruit on 

 long erect spikes, with woody rachis ; acorn ovoid, completely enclosed 

 by the thorny involucre, which is grey-tomentose, and thickly set with 

 stout stellate and branching spines, each about J in. long. Cotyledons 

 ruminated. 



South-east Kamaon, near the right bank of the Sarda river, between 2000 and 

 6000 ft. Nepal, Sikkim (4000-7000 ft.), Bhutan, Kasia, Chittagong, hills in 

 Burma above 3000 ft. Fl. April, May ; the fruit ripens in autumn of the second 

 year. Wood hard, weight 62 lb. ; in Nepal large mortars and pestles for grind- 

 ing grain are made of it, and it is a favourite wood for carpenters' work. 



2. C. indica, Alph. DC. ; Prodr. xvi. ii. 109. Syn. Castanea indica, 

 Eoxb. 1. c. 643. 



A middle-sized evergreen tree, current year's branchlets and under side 

 of leaves rusty-tomentose, leaf-buds open, scales lanceolate. Leaves subses- 

 sile or short-petiolate, elliptic or elliptic-lanceolate, cuspidate-serrate, 6-9 

 in. long, main lateral nerves 15-20 pair. Flowers in erect paniculate 

 tomentose spikes, male and female flowers generally in distinct spikes, but 

 in the same panicle. Male flowers sessile, in rounded bracteate clusters ; 

 perianth of 6 segments ; stamens 1 2, filaments long slender, surrounding 

 a tomentose rudimentary ovary. Female flowers solitary, or 2-3 in one 

 cup, often with short stamens ; styles linear, erect, the ends spreading. 

 Fruit in erect spikes, with a thick woody rachis. Acorns often 2 in one 

 cup, which encloses them completely, and is thickly set with fasciculate 

 prickles about J in. long. Cotyledons not ruminated. 



Nepal, ascending to 4000 ft. Sikkim, Terai, Assam, Kasia, Chittagong. Fl. 

 Aug.-Nov. ; the fruit ripens in the following autumn. The seeds are eaten in 

 Silhet, and are said to taste like inferior filberts. 



Two genera, Fagus and Castanea, important as forest-trees in Europe, are 

 allied to the Indian Castanopsis. In both, the involucre encloses several female 

 flowers with linear styles, and is enlarged and hardened during maturity into a 

 coriaceous capsule-like covering, which splits into 4 valves, covered, in the case 



