136 BOTANV OF INDIA. 



therefore required. This propensity to thro\y up sapUngs 

 is so striking, that no seedling is ever found within the con- 

 fines of a Clssu forest, owing to the excessive luxuriance 

 of the ground-shoots and the thin and perishable nature of 



the seed. 



Butea Frondosa, a rather large tree with a crooked trunk, 

 is one of those considered holy by the Hindoos, who call it 

 Palasa. The leaves are twelve' or sixteen inches long, 

 composed of three oval leaflets ; the flowers large and pen- 

 dulous and forming rich racemes, — their ground-colour a 

 beautiful deep-red shaded with orange and silver-coloured 

 down, which gives them a most elegant appearance. We 

 are informed by Sir William Jones that the Palasa is named 

 with honour in the Vedas, in the laws of Menu, and in 

 Sanscrit poems, both sacred and popular : it gave its name 

 to the memorable plain called Plassey by the vulgar, but 

 properly Palasi. A grove of palasas was formerly the pnn- 

 cipal ornament of Crishna-nagar, where we still see the 

 trunk of an aged tree near six feet in circumference. From 

 natural fissures, and wounds made in the bark during the hot 

 season, there issues a most beautiful red juice, wluch soon 

 hardens into a ruby -coloured brittle astringent gum, which 

 may at some future time be applied to useful purposes.* 

 A beautiful yellow die is obtained from the flowers ; and 

 Dr. Roxburgh mentions, that from the expressed juice of 

 the fresh flowers, which, after diluting with alum-water, he 

 evaporated by the heat of the sun into a soft extract, he 

 procured a brighter water-colour than any gamboge he ever 

 met with ; nor did it fade during a period of twelve months. 

 Another species of Butea, B. superba, is a very large 

 climber, with a stem thicker than a man's arm, and beanng 

 the most splendid flowers, in such profusion as to render it 

 one of the most gaudy vegetables known. They also yield 



a similar die. , »• <• 



The nest plant that we shall notice in. our selection ot 

 leguminose species is perhaps one of the most interesting. 

 This is the rice-paper-plant {JEschynomene paludosa), the 

 Shola of the Bengalese. Much uncertainty has prevailed 

 in retrard to the real nature of the substance called rice- 

 paper ; and many people actually believe that rice enters m 



* Roxburgh's Plants of Coromandel 



