266 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol X. 



comes the beautiful sweet smelling blossom covering the tree, denuded 

 of its leaves, from head to foot. As the fruit next forms, first green, 

 then gradually turning beautiful crimson, capped with the uppermost 

 portions of the toothed calyx, new foliage appears of bright light 

 green colour before the monsoon sets in. The plant is at this time very 

 charming to the eye. When the fruit matures, the village-boys 

 gather round the tree in search of the sweet pulp covering the seed. 

 It is to them — poor half-starved creatures- — an out-of-door repast of 

 much relish judging from the avidity with which they gather the fruit 

 as fallen under the tree, or picked by an insidious ascent on tlie 

 snarled branches of the coveted plant. Note that Baillon observes that 

 " the branches of inflorescence are elongate or sometimes more or less 

 contracted ; pedicels generally contracted."* 



With regard to the observations of Loudon, who describes the plant 

 as Alangium decapetalum, I have this to say : Loudon saysf that the 

 plant has ten petals ; the branches are spiny. His figure, however, 

 is only a solitary flower. This is as incomplete as it is misleading. 

 Baillon distinctly says that Alangium of Lamarck is unarmed, 

 sometimes spinescent. The former, but not the latter, is my experience 

 in the Thana plants. Loudon observes that the plant grows in light 

 sandy soil. Be it so. I can add that in the moorum soil of Thana 

 the plant grows very well indeed. Perhaps it may be said that 

 in moormn soil, or any similar soil, the plant thrives superbly. 

 " Cuttings," says Loudon, " root in sand under a hand glass in 

 moist heat." This is quoted from Loudon for the information of 

 those who would grow the plant in a soil which has no particle of 

 moorum in it. Loudon describes it as an " Evergreen." It may be 

 so in the country from which he writes the description. On this 

 side of India it distinctly sheds its leaves entirely about the time of 

 blossoming. Loudon classes the plant under Myrtacece. This was 

 right enough according to his lights. To-day we classify the plant 

 under the natural order Comacece. There is a sufficient justification 

 for this change according to our lights. Loudon describes the colour 

 of the flowers of A. decapetalum, as "paZe-pw," which I presume 

 means '' pale purple." If he had said it was ^^ pale-ru " imtead of 



* Natural History of Plants, vol. vi, page 286. 

 t Encyclopcedia, p. 4,68, article 1068 



