ANACARDIACE^:. 



Nat. syst. ed.2. p. 1 66. 



MANGIFERA. 



Flowers polygamous. Calyx 5-partite, deciduous. Petals 

 4-5, inserted under the disk, furnished on the inside with a 

 lobed glandular scale or crest : aestivation imbricative. Stamens 

 arising from the disk : 1 (or occasionally 2) fertile, ascending, 

 opposite to one of the lower sepals, with a subulate fleshy fila- 

 ment about as long as the style : the others sterile (usually 3 or 

 4, sometimes more), slender, minute, tipped with a small gland. 

 Disk thick fleshy 4-5-lobed. Ovary with its base immersed in 

 the disk, oblique, consisting of a solitary carpel, 1-celled, 1- 

 ovuled : ovule attached a little above the base to the upper side 

 of the ovary. Style 1, from the upper edge of the ovary, curved 

 downwards. Stigma simple. Drupe somewhat compressed; 

 sarcocarp fleshy; stone compressed, woody, 1-celled, 2-valved, 

 covered on the outside with fibrous filaments. Seed solitary. 

 Trees. Leaves alternate, coriaceous, entire and quite en- 

 tire. Panicles terminal, much branched. Flowers small. W. 

 and A. chiefly. 



584. M. indica Linn, sp.pl. 290. Roxb.fi. ind. i.641. W. 

 and A. i. 170. (Rheede iv. 1. 1, 2. Rumpk. i. t. 25.) Conti- 

 nent and islands of the East Indies, whence it has been carried 

 into other tropical countries. 



Tree of great size, with an erect trunk, covered with dark -coloured* 

 cracked bark. Leaves alternate, stalked, lanceolate, entire, often a 

 little waved at the margin, firm, smooth, shining, generally from 6 to 12 

 inches long, and from 2 to 3 broad; petioles round, smooth, 1 to 2 

 inches long. Panicles terminal, erect or ascending, a little downy. 

 Pedicels short, thick, rigid. Bracts oval, concave, a little downy. 

 Flowers small, yellow, with some stripes of red near the base of the 

 petals ; polygamous. Sepals 5, oblong, concave. Petals 5, lanceolate, 

 spreading, twice the length of the calyx. Disk very large, yellow, 

 fleshy, of 5 concave lobes. Filament single, subulate, ascending, half 

 the length of the petals, inserted between the lower lobe of the disk 

 and the ovary. Anther oval, purple. Sterile stamens 2, 3, 4, or more, 

 very minute. Ovary obliquely oval, 1-celled, with a single ovule attached 

 to the side of the cell, opposite to the fertile stamen, and under the 

 style. Style from the side of the ovary, the length of the stamen, 

 subulate, incurved. Drupe oblong or kidney- formed, a little compressed, 

 fleshy, smooth, when ripe, yellow ; in general about as large as a goose's 

 egg. Stone of the same form as the drupe, but more compressed, covered 

 with a ragged fibrous coating, woody, 1-celled, 2-vfclved. The drupe 

 is to the inhabitants of India what the peach is to Europeans ; the most 

 281 



