COVELLIA. 





monum 





F 1 Bomb 244; Wall Cat. 4538 A. to ;H~ (toelUa oppoHfifoka, </„ mm% 



setulosa Courtallensu, Wightiana, Assamica, and * f carpa J Mi,,! in Land 

 Journ. Bot. vn. 461 to 564.-<W. %,^ Miq. iu Loud. Journ 



and Fl. Ind. Bat. i. pt. 2. 323. 



Bet 



A shrub or small tree; all the parts more or loss bispidpidx scent : the bi 



and, in Malayan specimens, the upper surfaces of the leav 



glabrescent when 



old. Leaves usually opposite, petiolate, membranous, ovate, ovate-oblong or elliptic to 

 sub-obovate-elliptic, apiculate or shortly and abruptly acuminate • edft dentate 



jjvs cicnune or entin 



in old leaves; base rounded, emarginate, slightly cordate or narrowed and sub-cuneate 

 3- to 5-nerved; primary lateral nerves 3 to 5 pain; secondary nerves rather strai 



reticulations fine; the lower surface hispid-pubescent, the upper hispid-scabrid : len 



, »v«f. 





4 to 9 in. (in young shoots as much as 12 in.); petioles from -5 to 15 in. loi 



(in young shoots often 3 to 3*5 in.); densely hispid-pubescent; stipules 2 to b 

 leaf, ovate-lanceolate, pubescent externally, glabrous internally, about -5 in. long, (.ft n u 

 whorls of four on the receptacle-bearing, leafless branches. Receptacles shortly pedunculate 

 turbinate, obvoid, or sub-pyriform, slightly umbonate, hispid, and sometimes with bra< 



across 



scattered along their sides; yellowish when ripe, and from *5 to 1 in. 

 umbilicus rather large; basal bracts 3, borne on peduncles -2 to *G in. long; in pair* from 

 the axils of the leaves, or in fascicles from shortened tuberculate branches from the old 

 wood, or in pairs or fascicles on elongate, stipular, bracteatc, sometimes leafy hranchoi 

 issuing from the larger branches or stem, and often reaching to, or even penetrating, 



the soil. Male flowers rather numerous near the apex of the receptee] < < containing tin 



galls; the perianth of 3 concave hyaline pieces; stamen 1; the anther broad, filament 

 short. Gall flowers pedicellate, with no obvious perianth; the ovary smooth, gloliular; 

 style short, sub- terminal ; stigma dilated. Fertile female flower- like the i ills as regan 

 perianth; the achene ovoid; the style long, lateral, hairy; the sti< ma, cylindric tubular. 



Common over the whole of India up to elevations of about 3,500 ft.; Malayan 



Peninsula and Archipelago, Hongkong, Australia. 



This species, being so widely distributed, presents considerable variety in form. In 

 the majority of plants the leaves are quite opposite : in other- they are distant and scattered, 

 with no tendency to become opposite: in some the receptacles are axillary, in others the} 

 are entirely borne on the branches issuing from the stem near the root, while in others the} 

 occupy both situations. Koxburgh says that on the sandy beaches of the Coromandel 

 Coast the receptacles are often hypogoeal, and to this hypogoeal form he gave the pecifio 



name dcemonum ; but in no other respect does this Coromandel form present any peculiarities 

 In Malayan specimens of this species the upper surface of the leaves is almost brous. 

 The male flowers in this, as in most species of Covellia, are few compared to the femah 



Plate 154.— F. hispida, Linn. fil. 1, apex of branch of opposite-leaved form, with 2 



axillary receptacles ; 2, 2, 2, fig-bearing leafless branch, with whorls of stipules and immatnr. 



receptacles; 3, vertical section of immature receptacle— all of natural it e; 4, abortive male 



flower ; 5 & 6, three perfect female flowers : enlarged. (No*. 4 and 5 are from (he same 

 receptacle.) 



Plate 155.— F. Mspida, Linn. fil. 6, apex of leaf-branch of alternate-leaved form; 7, 



stem with fig-bearing, leafless branch ; 8, vertical section of a receptacle con taming pcrf. d male 



gall flowers-./ natural she; 9, male flower; 1 0, gall flower from the same receptacle: 



enlarged. 



