674 XLII. LOGANIACEAE 



fresh clean silvery seeds collected from the ripe fruits command a higher price 

 tlian the dull-coloured seeds collected off the ground. 



Distribution and habitat. The Indian Peninsula northward to the 

 Circars, Orissa, Raipur, South Chanda, and the Konkan. Common in southern 

 India. Occasional in Chota Nagpur, but always near villages, and probably 

 not indigenous (Haines). Gorakhpur forests in the United Provinces (Brandis). 

 Dry region of Ceylon. 



In the Indian Peninsula it is common in many localities in deciduous 

 forests, usually of a moist type. Talbot says that in Bombay it is very common 

 in the moist monsoon forests of the Konkan and North Kanara, and abundant 

 on laterite along the sea-coast in evergreen thorn scrub. In the Central 

 Provinces it occurs chiefly on deep alluvial soils in South Chanda and on the 

 quartzite plateau of the Laun range, Raipur (Haines). 



Within its habitat the absolute maximum shade temperature varies from 

 96 to 118 F., the absolute minimum from 40 to 65 F., and the normal 

 rainfall from 35 to 150 in. or more. 



Leaf-shedding, flowering, and fruiting. In moist types of forest the 

 tree is evergreen, but in dry types, for example on laterite, it loses its leaves 

 for a short time in the hot season. The small greenish white flowers appear 

 from March to May, and the fruits ripen in the cold and hot seasons from 

 December to June. The fruit is a berry about the size and colour of a small 

 orange, wdth a rather hard coriaceous pericarp and a bitter white pulp in 

 which are a number of nearly circular flat seeds. 



The seeds are poisonous, but the pulp and even the seeds are eaten by 

 langur monkeys. Gamble says : ' The pulp of the fruit, though containing 

 also some poison, is eaten by the langur monkeys {Semriopithecus entellus, 

 Blyth, and S. priamus, And.) and also by the Malabar pied hornbill {Anthra- 

 coceros coronatus, Elliot), and perhaps by other hornbills, parrots, and other 

 birds, but the seeds are probably always rejected or else passed undigested. 

 But while the langur monkeys can apparently eat the fruit and even 

 the seeds without harm, other monkeys, as well as other animals and man, 

 cannot do so, though it is said that the flying fox can eat the pulp with 

 impunity.' 



SiLVicuLTURAL CHARACTERS. The tree is a shade-bearer, growing under 

 a moderate canopy even in semi -evergreen types of forest. It produces root- 

 suckers. It is immune from damage by browsing, as animals avoid it. 



Rate of growth. Little is known regarding the rate of growth. A cross- 

 section in the silvicultural museum at Dehra Dun had 31 rings for a girth of 

 2 ft. 3 in., giving a mean annual girth increment of 0-87 in. 



2. Strychnos Nux-blanda, A. W. Hill. Burmese strychnine tree. Vern. 

 Kahaung, Burm. 



A moderate-sized evergreen or deciduous tree with opposite smooth shining 

 leaves five-nerved from the base, the three central nerves being prominent. 

 Bark yellowish grey to blackish grey, often fluted. 



Distribution and habitat. Burma, common in the upper and lower 

 mixed deciduous forests, and often very plentiful in moist semi-evergreen 

 forest as a lower story beneath Dipterocarpus alatus and other tall trees. It 

 is also common in indaing (dry dipterocarp) forest on laterite, though here 



