508 XXVII. COMBRETACEAE 



April-May with the young leaves ; they have a strong honey-like smell, which 

 is almost overpowering at times. The fruits (Fig. 193, a) ripen from November 

 to February and fall during the cold and hot seasons. The fruit is a somewhat 

 dry fleshy drupe 1-1-5 in. long, ovoid, pyriform, ellipsoidal or globose, grey 

 velvety tomentose, with a hard thick-walled woody light yellow putamen 

 0-7-11 in. long (Fig. 193. b). The fruits are greedily eaten by monkeys, 

 squirrels, pigs, deer, goats, and other animals, and are never allowed to lie 

 long on the ground before being stripped of their fleshy covering : during the 

 cold and hot seasons small clusters of the light yellowish fruit-stones may be 

 foimd lying about the forest disgorged by deer in rumination. During the 

 cold season the trees may often be seen with numerous withering branchlets, 

 broken by monkeys in picking the fruits. The partiality of animals for the 

 flesh of the ripe fruits is an assistance to the spread of the seed. On the other 

 hand, much of the fruit crop is rendered ineffective by insects and animals. 

 The immature fruits are attacked by insects during the rainy season, and 

 may fall to the ground. The hard nuts of the fruits are very largely bored 

 into by insects while lying on the ground, and the whole crop may be destroyed 

 in this way. The nuts are also frequently broken open, for the sake of the 

 kernel inside, by squirrels, pigs, and other animals, and in some localities it 

 is rare to find a single sound nut on the ground by the beginning of the rainy 

 season. 



The germinative power of the seed is better than that of most species of 

 this genus, and much better than that of T. Chebula. Tests carried out at 

 Dehra Dun showed a fertility of 86-100 per cent, for fresh seed and 5-40 

 per cent, for seed kept one year. 



Germination (Fig. 193, c-e). Hypogeous, thus differing from that of 

 the other species under consideration. The hard putamen splits into two 

 halves, and the radicle emerges, a strong taproot soon establishing itself. 

 Meanwhile the cotyledonary petioles elongate, curving in the process and 

 separating sufficiently to enable the young shoot to issue from between them. 

 The cotyledons and the remnants of the putamen remain in or on the ground. 



The seedling (Fig. 193). 



Roots : primary root long, thick, terete, tapering, light brown : lateral 

 roots moderate in number and length, fibrous, distributed down main root. 

 Hypocotyl not very distinct, 0-2-0-3 in. long, subterranean. Cotyledons : 

 petiole 0-4 in. long, thick, fleshy, flattened, curved to side of stem : lamina 

 0-6-0-8 in. by 0-5-0-6 in., thick, fleshj', broadly ovate or nearly orbicular, 

 auricled by a basal prolongation, convolute and remaining some time within 

 the nut. Stem erect, terete, green, pubescent ; internodes 0-4-1 -2 in. long. 

 Leaves simple, exstipulate, first pair opposite, sub-opposite or alternate, 

 subsequent leaves alternate, earlier leaves small, subsequeiit leaves increasing 

 rapidly in size. Petiole 0-1-0-3 in. long. Lamina 0-9-5 in. by 0-5-3 in., 

 elliptical or obovate, acute, base acute or tapering, entire, glabrous above, 

 sparsely pubescent on veins beneath, venation arched reticulate. 



The growth of the seedling during the first season is only moderate, 

 a height of about 5-8 in. being ordinarily attained. Subsequently the develop- 

 ment is more rapid, particularly if the plants are regularly weeded, for although 

 they are capable of making their way through weeds their development is 

 considerably impeded in the process. The young plants do not assume the 



