593 



ORDER XXIX. LYTHRACEAE 



This order contains a number of important Indian timber trees, chiefly 

 belojiging to the genus Lagerstroemia. 



Genera 1. Lagerstroemia, Linn.; 2. Duabanga, Hani.; 3. Sonneratia, 

 Linn. f. ; 4. Woodeordia, SaHsb. ; 5. Punica, Linn. 



1. LAGERSTROEMIA Linn. 



This genus contains eleven Indian species of trees and perhaps a twelfth, 

 L. indica, Linn., a well-known garden tree which is indigenous in China and 

 possibly in the Shan hills in Upper Burma. To this genus belong some im- 

 portant Indian timber trees, most of which are very ornamental owing to their 

 large showy flowers. The silviculture of these trees is at present imperfectly 

 understood. The fruit is a capsule containing many winged, usually small light 

 seeds, which, in all the species studied so far, are uncertain in their germinative 

 power, a large proportion being as a rule unfertile. L. mdica and L. Flos- 

 Eeginae are known to be caj)able of propagation from cuttings, and the same 

 may possibly be the case with other species. 



Species 1. L. 2)cirviflora, Roxb.; 2. L. Flos-Reginae, Retz.; 3. /,. tomentosa, 



Presl.; 4. L. lanceolata, Wall.; 5. L. macrocarpa, Kurz ; 6. L. hypoleuca, Kurz. 



1. Lagerstroemia parviflora, Roxb. Vern. Dhaura, lendia, Hind. ; Sidha, 



Hind., Beng. ; Lende, bondga, Mar. ; Ckenangi, Tel. ; Zaungbale. kyeftawsa, 



1 . Burm. 



A large, in poor localities a small deciduous tree. Bark light grey to 

 reddish, thin, smooth, exfoliating in narrow longitudinal flakes, light brown 

 inside. Wood very hard, durable, used for building, agricultural implements, 

 carts, boats, shafts, axe-handles, &c. The tree sometimes exhibits twisted 

 fibre from left to right, and often produces burrs, especially when injured. 

 Large trees are often hollow in the centre, and the timber has the fault of 

 splitting a good deal near the centre. Apart from its economic value this tree 

 is important silviculturally as a common companion of the sal, teak, and 

 other valuable species. 



Distribution and habitat. Sub-Himalayan tract from the Jumna 

 eastwards, ascending to 3,000 ft., Bengal, Assam, Chota Na.gpur, central 

 India, and the Indian Peninsula southwards to the Nilgiris, Upper Burma. 

 As a general rule the tree is not gregarious, though often plentiful. In the 

 sub-Himalayan tract it is a common constituent of the sal forests, and is also 

 plentiful on the dry waterless bhahar tract, a deep boulder formation along 

 the base of the outer hills. Here the forest is often of a dry mixed type, and 

 in the United Provinces among the chief associate species are Adina cordifoUa, 

 Terminalia tomentosa, T. belerica, Hymenodictyon excelsum, Holoptelea integri- 

 folia, Acacia Catechu, and Phyllanthus EtKblica. Farther east, in the Duars 

 of Bengal and western Assam, it is one of the commonest trees along the base 

 of the outer hills and on the dry boulder formation skirting them, the forest 

 being of a dry character and the chief trees besides Lagerstroemia being Shorea 

 robusta, Terminalia Chebula, T. belerica, PhyUantJiKS Emblica, Stercidia villosa, 

 Dillenia pentagyna, Bombax w.alabaricum. , Gmelina arborea, Premna, Stereo- 

 spermum, and others, and near rivers Dalbergia Sissoo and Acacia Catechu. 



2307.2 



