55 



K. Ord. 



Tribe Aurantieee. 



Genus -Jgle,* Correct. B. & H., Gen., i, p. 306 ; Bail!., Hist. 

 PL, iv, p. 488. Species 2, natives of tropical Asia. 



55. .Egle Marmel08,t Correa in Trans. Linn. Soc. Loud., v, 



p. 223 (1800). 



Bael. Bel. Bili. Bilva. Mahura. 





Marmeloe, Linn. C. religiosa, Ainslie. 



Figures. Rheede, Hort. Malab., iii, t. 35; Rumph., Herb. Amboin., i, 

 t. 81; Roxb., Coromandel PL, ii, t. 143; Wight, Ic. PLInd., t. 16; 

 Beddome, Fl. Sylv., t. 161. 



Description. A tree reaching a height of 30 or 40 feet when 

 cultivated, with a short thick trunk and narrow oval head ; in the 

 wild state smaller and more irregular, with short, strong, sharp, 

 spiny branches 1 inch or more in length in the axils of the leaves ; 

 bark bluish-grey, soft, with irregular furrows on the younger 

 branches. Leaves alternate, compound, with one (rarely 2) pairs 

 of shortly stalked opposite leaflets, and a larger long-petioled 

 terminal one, leaflets 1 2 inches long, ovate or oval-ovate, abrupt 

 or tapering at the base, somewhat attenuated towards the blunt 

 apex, very shallowly serrato-crenate, smooth, thin, midrib promi- 

 nent beneath. Flowers f inch wide, sweet-scented, stalked, solitary 

 or in few-flowered, lax, erect, axillary or terminal cymes. Calyx 

 shallow, with 5 short, broad teeth, pubescent outside. Petals 5 

 (rarely 4), oblong-oval, blunt, thick, pale greenish- white, dotted 

 with glands, imbricate, spreading. Stamens numerous,, sometimes 

 coherent in bundles, hypogynous, with short filaments half as long 

 as the linear anthers. Disk none or very small. Ovary oblong- 

 ovoid, slightly tapering into the thick short style which is again 

 somewhat thickened upward, stigma capitate, axis of ovary wide, 



* 2Egle, the name of one of the Hesperides, whose orchards bore golden fruit. 

 f Marmelo is Portuguese for Quince, and the fruit was called " Marmelos de 

 Benguala " (Bengal Quince) by the medieval writers. 



