STEREOSPERMUM 691 



4. Stereospermum neurantlium, Kurz. Vern. Thande, Burm. 



A deciduous tree of the mixed deciduous forests of Burma. It is fairly 

 common both in the upper and in the lower mixed types. It produces root- 

 suckers. The wood is hard and of very fair quality. 



2. OROXYLUM, Vent. 



Oroxyhim indiciim, Vent. Syn. Calosanthes indica, Bl. Vern. Pharrdi, 

 ullu, sauna, Hind. ; Tetu, Mar. ; Pana, Tarn. ; Kyaungya, Burm. 



A small deciduous tree with few branches and very large opposite com- 

 pound leaves 3-5 ft. long, tripinnate near the base, bipinnate in the centre, 

 and once pinnate towards the apex : when leafless the branches are easily 

 recognized from the large opposite leaf -scars. Bark light greyish brown, soft. 

 Wood yellowish white, soft, not used ; bark used for tanning and dyeing. 

 The tree is a conspicuous one in the forests of India, especially when leafless 

 and bearing its large scabbard-like capsules. 



Distribution and habitat. Throughout the greater part of India and 

 Burma except in the driest regions, chiefly in deciduous forests, but sometimes 

 scattered in evergreen forest, and often in ravines and other moist places ; 

 also in the Andamans and Ceylon. In the sub-Himalayan tract it ascends to 

 3,500 ft. ; it is rare west of the Jumna. 



Leaf-shedding, flowering, and fruiting. The leaves usually turn 

 a dark coppery brown in the cold season, faUing from December to February ; 

 the new leaves do not appear till May-June. The large fleshy purpKsh but 

 not handsome flowers, in stout terminal racemes, appear from May to August ; 

 the fruits develop rapidly, attaining full size by the beginning of the cold season 

 and dehiscing usually from February to May. The fruit is a large conspicuous 

 two-valved flat woody capsule 1-3 ft. long and 2-3-5 in. Mdde, containing 

 a large number of seeds. The seeds (Fig. 261, a) are flat and are surrounded 

 by a thin transparent white papery wing, the v/hole 2-2-7 in. across ; the 

 testa is thin, delicate, and membraneous, enclosing a light green flat embryo 

 0-5 in, in diameter faintly visible from the outside. About 280-340 seeds 

 weigh 1 oz. ; they are carried by wind to some distance from the tree. If 

 carefully stored the seed retains its vitality for at least a year, a sample kept 

 for a year and tested at Dehra Dun showing 95 per cent, of success. If exposed 

 to moisture or other adverse conditions, however, the seed becomes rapidly 

 spoiled. 



Germination (Fig. 261, b-e). Epigeous. The soft delicate testa, resem- 

 bUng a thin layer of pith and capable of absorbing and retaining moisture 

 during germination, together with the membraneous wing, usually rots off in 

 part or becomes partly washed off by rain during germination. The radicle 

 emerges first, the hypocotyl then elongating and carrying above ground the 

 large leafy bifid cotyledons, which soon expand, the remains of the testa being 

 either left in or on the ground or carried up, dropping with the expansion of 

 the cotyledons. 



The seedling (Fig. 261). 



Roots : primary root long, thick, terete, tapering, whitish : lateral roots 

 fairly numerous, fibrous, distributed down main root. Hypocotyl distmct 

 from root, 0-9-1-1 in. long, somewhat compressed, tapering slightly upwards, 



Aa 2 



