376 XXIII. LEGUMINOSAE 



Species 1. B. racemosa, Lam.; 2. B. malabarica, Roxb.; 3. B. retusa, 

 Ham. ; 4. B. purpurea, Linn. ; 5. B. variegata, Linn. 



1. Bauhiiiia racemosa, Linn. Vern. Jhinjeri, jhanjhora, inakuna, Hind. ; 

 Apta, Mar. ; Banne, Kan. ; Vattdtthi, Tarn. ; Ari, Tel. ; Palan, Burm. 



A small to moderate-sized deciduous (or evergreen ?) tree with a somewhat 

 crooked bole, drooping branchlets, and small leaves broader than long, cleft 

 nearly half-way down. Bark bluish black, rough with numerous deep vertical 

 cracks, pinkish red inside, turning brown on exposure. The tree is of no 

 importance for timber, but the bast yields a strong cordage fibre. Silvi- 

 culturally it is of some importance as a common constituent of the drier types 

 of forest and as a useful species for filling blanks. 



Distribution and habitat. Throughout the greater part of India in 

 deciduous forests of a dry type, ascending to 5,000 ft. in the western Himalaya; 

 frequent in grassy blanks and open spaces, and common also on dry hills. 

 In Burma it occurs on savannah lands and is fairly common in the dry zone 

 associated with Acacia Catechu, A. leucophloea, Pentacme suavis, Shorea obtusa, 

 Terminalia Oliveri, T. tomentosa, Bridelia retusa, Diospyros hurmanica, Buchan- 

 ania latijolia, Zizyphus Jujuba, Odina Wodier, Cassia renigera, Pliyllanthus 

 Emhlica, and other trees. 



In its natural habitat the absolute maximum shade temperature varies 

 from 100 to 118 F., the absolute minimum from 30 to 55 F., and the normal 

 rainfall from 30 to 85 in. 



Leaf-shedding, flowering, and fruiting. The old leaves are shed in 

 the cold or early hot season and the new foliage appears in the hot season, 

 sometimes before the old leaves have all fallen. The racemes of small creamy 

 white flowers appear from March to June. The pods ripen in November- 

 December and remain some months on the tree, falling towards the end of 

 the hot season or early in the rains : they are indehiscent, 5-8 in. long, dark 

 brown when ripe, thick, rigid, falcate, containing twelve to twenty seeds which 

 rattle in the septate pods. The seeds (Fig. 147, a) are dark reddish brown, 

 hard, smooth, shining, 0-3-0-4 in. by 0T8-0-25 in., with a hard fairly thick 

 testa : about 220-250 weigh 1 oz. The seeds have a fairly high germinative 

 power (58 to 95 per cent, in tests at Dehra Dun) and retain their vitality to 

 some extent for at least one year. In order to collect the seed the pods should 

 be plucked off the trees when thoroughly ripe, from January to March ; they 

 should then be hammered open and the seeds separated out. 



Germination (Fig. 147, 6-e). Epigeous. The radicle emerges from one 

 end o,f the seed and descends ; the hypocotyl elongates by arching, and the 

 cotyledons, enclosed in the testa, are carried up above ground, the testa falling 

 with their expansion. 



The seedling (Fig. 147). 



Roots : primary root moderately long, wiry, flexuose : lateral roots 

 moderate in number, fibrous : nodules present. Hypocotyl distinct from and 

 thicker than root, 0-3-0-5 in. long, slightly compressed and more or less 

 grooved down two sides, tapering downwards, green, glabrous. Cotyledons 

 sub-sessile or very shortly petiolate, 0-9-1 -2 in. by 0-5-0-6 in., foliaceous, 

 somewhat fleshy, obliquely ovate elliptical, entire, green, glabrous. Stern 

 erect, terete or slightly compressed, wiry, zigzag at the nodes, green, young 

 parts minutely i^ubescent, soon becoming glabrous. Leaves simple, alternate. 



