STEREOSPERMUM 689 



A large deciduous straight-stemmed tree, in unfavourable situations 

 a small tree, with imparipinnate leaves clustered towards the ends of the 

 branchlets. Bark grey to brown, fairly smooth. Wood hard, grey, used for 

 building, furniture, tea-boxes, canoes, &c. 



Distribution and habitat. Sub-Himalayan tract from Oudh (Gonda 

 forests, not common) eastward to Assam, common up to 2,000 ft. in the eastern 

 Himalaya, Chittagong, throughout Burma in mixed deciduous forests, ascend- 

 ing to 4,000 ft. in the Shan hills ; the Indian Peninsula, chiefly on the western 

 side, rare in Chota Nagpur and Orissa, fairly common in valleys in the Central 

 Provinces, in Bombay chiefly in the moist forests of the Konkan and North 

 Kanara ; common in the deciduous forests of Travancore up to 4,000 ft. 

 (Bourdillon). 



This tree does not extend to such dry regions as S. suaveolens. In its 

 natural habitat the absolute maximum shade temperature varies from under 

 100 to 115 F., the absolute minimum from 35 to over 60 F., and the normal 

 rainfall from 40 to 150 in. 



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

 February-March, the new leaves appearing in April. The fragrant flowers, 

 yellow marked with red, in lax drooping panicles, appear before, with, or after 

 the new leaves from April to June. The fruits ripen in the following cold 

 season ; the time of their dehiscence has not been accurately recorded. The 

 capsules are slender, 10-30 in. long by 0-25-0-5 in. in diameter, with a thick 

 septum in the deep notches of which the seeds lie ; the seeds are wedge-shaped 

 and winged, about 1-25 in. broad with the wings. 



SiLVicuLTURAL CHARACTERS. The silvicultural characters of this tree 

 require study. It produces root-suckers freely and coppices well. It is 

 probably less hardy than 8. suaveolens. 



Rate of growth. Gamble's specimens averaged 7 rings per inch of 

 radius, giving a mean annual girth increment of 0-9 in. 



3. Stereospermum xylocarpum, Benth. and Hook. f. Syn. Bignonia xylo- 

 carpa, Roxb. ; Spathodea xylocarpa, T. And. Vern. Parol, C. P. ; Kharsmg, 

 Mar. ; Genasing, Kan. 



A moderate-sized to large deciduous tree with very large bi- or tripinnate 

 leaves up to 4 ft. long. Bark light grey, fairly smooth, flaky. Wood hard, 

 tough, and elastic, with a small orange-brown heartwood, used for cart-shafts 

 and cabinet work. 



This is a tree of the Indian Peninsula in deciduous forests of the Central 

 Provinces, Bombay from Khandesh southwards, and Madras southwards to 

 Travancore. It is leafless for a short time in the hot season. The large 

 fragrant white or pinkish flowers appear in April-May and the capsules ripen 

 next hot season. The latter are conspicuous from their large size, being 

 sometimes as much as 3 ft. in length, woody and tubercled, with 

 a central septum about 0-5 in. thick. The winged seeds are about 1-25 in. 

 broad. 



The silviculture of this tree requires study. It is a light-demander, though 

 it stands some shade in youth : it produces root-suckers. Bourdillon gives 

 the rate of growth as about 9 rings per inch of radius, or a mean annual girth 

 increment of 0-7 in. 

 2307.2 A a 



