BASSIA 641 



cooked, or are dried, ground, and mixed with flour for making cakes, or are 

 distilled into spirit. A thick white oil extracted from the seed is used by 

 jungle tribes for cooking and burning, and is sold for the manufacture of 

 margarine, soap, and glycerine. The wood is of good quality, but the tree is 

 seldom felled, owing to the value of its flowers and fruits. 



Distribution and habitat. Common in the deciduous forests of the 

 Central Provinces, Bombay Presidency, northern parts of the Madras Presi- 

 dency, Central India, Chota Nagpur, Orissa, and extending north to the sub- 

 Himalayan tract in Oudh, Kumaun, and westward, though not common, to 

 the Ravi. Doubtfully indigenous in Upper Burma. Not found in the southern 

 parts of the Indian Peninsula. Much planted on the plains of northern India 

 and in the Peninsula. The tree is a characteristic one in mixed deciduous 

 forests, usually of a somewhat dry type, often growing on dry rocky or sandy 

 soil, and thriving on the Deccan trap. It is common also in the drier types 

 of sal forest in Chota Nagpur and the Central Provinces. When forest land 

 is cleared for cultivation the moJuva trees are carefully preserved, and may be 

 found scattered over cultivated lands long after the clearing has taken place 

 (see Fig. 244). 



In its natural habitat the absolute maximum shade temperature varies 

 from 106 to 118 F., the absolute minimum from 30 to 46 F., and the normal 

 rainfall from 30 to 75 in. 



Leaf-shedding, flowering, and fruiting. The leaves fall gradually 

 from February to April, and the new leaves appear about April or early May, 

 with or shortly after the flowers. Fig. 244 shows a tree in March, partly bare 

 of leaves. The new leaves are conspicuous from their coppery red colour. 

 The brown flower-buds appear at the ends of the thick branchlets early in 

 February, and the flowers open from the end of February to April. The 

 corollas are 0-5-0-6 in. long, cream-coloured, fleshy, and sweet, and fall soon 

 after opening. They are collected in large quantities off the ground, usually 

 in places swept bare under the trees ; they are also eagerly devoured by bears, 

 deer, and other animals. The fruit, which is ovoid, fleshy, greenish, 1-2 in. 

 long, 1- to 4-seeded, ripens from June to August, and falls at once to the 

 ground. The seeds (Fig. 246, a) are 0-8-1 -3 in. long by 0-5-0-7 in. broad, 

 slightly compressed, ellipsoidal, light brown, smooth, shining, with a moderately 

 hard testa ; about 200 weigh 1 lb. on an average. 



Fresh seed has a high percentage of fertility, but the seed quickly loses 

 its vitality if kept, and is much subject to insect and fungus attacks. Speci- 

 mens of a microlepidopterous insect whose larvae were found in large numbers 

 destroying the insides of seeds have been named by Meyi'ick Stathmopoda 

 basiplectra, sp. nov. Seeds attacked by fungi were examined by Dr. Butler, 

 who detected two separate fungi, a Diplodia, probably parasitic, and a Schizo- 

 phyllum, probably saprophytic after the seeds had lost their vitality. Affected 

 seeds become rough and blistered, the surface often assuming a silvery colour, 

 and the black pycnidia of the Diplodia appearing on the surface. The liability 

 of the seed to attacks of insects and fungi is a matter of importance in so fai- 

 as natural reproduction is concerned, for, as will be seen later, seed whicli 

 becomes buried soon after falling germinates without being attacked. 



The mohiva crop is of great importance to the jungle population, and 



2307.2 Y 



