MR HIERN, ON EBENACEA 159 



fruit or spreading, pubescent on both sides, | fin. across, not or scarcely accrescent; 

 testa shining, marked with reticulated depressions; albumen cartilaginous, ruminated, grey. 

 "The fruit when ripe is sweet and not very bad tasted;" according to Hamilton the 

 cotyledons in D. insculpta are conduplicate. This valuable tree sheds all its leaves in the 

 cold season, and they appear again in the beginning of the hot weather (Beddome) ; not 

 uncommon in the Cuddapah, Salem and Kurnool forests in Madras. Difficult to distinguish 

 from D. melanoxylon, Roxb., to which species it ought perhaps to be united. 



N.W. India. Hb. Eoyle!; Brundekund, Edgeworth! 6004; Hb. Stocks/ ; plains of Behar, 

 &c., Dr Hooker ! 440, 441 ; Magadi (used for small beams and posts), Hejuru, S.W. Mysore 

 (a large tree ; timber good), Hitch. Ham. Journey vol. I. p. 183. vol. n. p. 125. W. Himalaya, 

 Dr Stewart! 



5. DIOSPYKOS MELANOXYLON, Roxb. Coromand. p. 36. t. 46 (1795). 



D. foliis oppositis suboppositis vel alternis, ovalibus vel oblongis, apice rotundatis vel leviter 

 angustatis, basi cuneatis vel rarius rotundatis, pubescentibus tenuiter coriaceis, petiolatis ; pedun- 

 culis florum masculorum longitudine petioli plurifloris, calyce campamdato, tomentoso, breviter 

 4 5-lobo, staminibus 12 16, rarius 8, glabris vel antheris leviter hirsutis ; floribus femineis 

 solitariis brevissime pedunculatis 5 4-mem, staminodiis 8 vel 10, ovario 4 (8-) loculari, fruc- 

 tibus globosis vel ovoideis, pubescentibus vel glabratis, plerumque k-sperinis ; albumine ruminate. 



Alph. DC. Prodr. VIII. p. 224. n. 7 (1844), non Blum, nee Hassk. 



D. Wightiana, Wall.! List n. 4406 (182832), Alph. DC. Prodr. vni. p. 223. n.2, Beddom. 

 Fl. Sylv. Madras, t 67 (1870). 



D. Eoylii, Wall. List n. 4134 (182832), D. Roylei, Alph. DC. I.e. p. 239. n. 89. 

 D. dubia, Wall. n. 4407, Alph. DC. I. c. p. 223. n. 4, non Goepp. 



Cfr. D. rubiginosa, Roth, Nov. PI. Sp. p. 385 (1821), et D. montana, Heyne ex Roth I. c., 

 non Roxb. 



Tumki Tumi and Tumbi in Tamil and Telugu, ex Beddome, Fl. Sylv. Madr. t. 67 (1870) ; 

 Tumida of the Telingas, ex Roxb. 1. c. ; Tumballi of the Tamuls, ex Roxb. Fl. Ind. edit. 1832, 

 vol. II. p. 531; Tindoo of the Hindoos ex Roxb. I.e.; (Tendoo, Beddome); Coromandel ebony 

 tree; Thomboorah Marum in Hb. Wight; Toomrie, Dr Ritchie (Belgaum). 



A large tree with a trunk 8 10 feet in circumference, sometimes only a small shrub ; 

 dioecious ; young shoots very downy, pale-ferruginous. Leaves opposite subopposite and 

 alternate, pubescent especially beneath, thinly coriaceous, oval or oblong, cuneate or rarely 

 rounded at base, rounded or somewhat narrowed at apex, 2 6 in. long by 1 2 wide ; 

 petioles in. long ; veins less conspicuous than in D. Tupru; deciduous. 



<J. Flowers J in. long, in panicled tomentose-ferruginous drooping cymes in. 

 long, longer than the petioles, several or many together, with small bracts at base and apex 

 of short pedicels. Calyx shortly 4 6-lobed, campanulate, tomentose on both sides. Corolla 

 4 6-lobed at apex, glabrous inside, densely silky outside, 1| 3 times the length of the calyx. 

 Stamens 12 16 (rarely 8 only), in pairs when 16, glabrous or with lines of short hairs back 



