THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY, 267 



^' pale-pu," I should have supposed thai the '^ pale-ru " was an abbre- 

 viated form of the term '"'■ pale-rufous ^^^ which would have been nearer 

 the truth ; for 1 have often observed a reddish or pinkish tinge on the 

 dorsal surface of some of the petals of the flowers just before expand- 

 ing. This pink tinge is most marked in the petals facing the early 

 morning sun. According to Loudon the plant appears to have been 

 introduced into England so far back as 1779. In concluding my 

 observations on Loudon's description of the plant described by him as 

 A. decapetalum^ I may add that he considers this plant to be capable 

 of " propagation by cuttings." On this side of India we have no such 

 contingency. The prevailing characteristic of the plant in Thana is 

 that it throws out " suckers." In the vicinity of the plant that is 

 now superbly growing in the compound of the Military Hospital in 

 Thana, there are this day more than half a dozen plants — I should call 

 them trees — which are distinctly the product of the main plant 

 generated by means of " suckers." 



It may be observed that the plant described by the elder DeCan- 

 dolle* as A. tomentosum (Lamarck) is more like the Thana plant than 

 any other I have yet seen described, especially as regards the charac- 

 teristics of the fruit. Witness DeCandolle^s own words : 



" Florihus * * * ; ramis inermibus {i.e., having branches with- 

 out Sicilies), junior ibus petiolis nervibusque velutinis foliis oblong is, obtuse 

 acuminatisj subtus vernulis reticulatis. Bacca vel drupa pubescens, 

 cortice pubescens" (true— K.R.K.) ^Hivide purpureo'^ (true — K.R.K.) 

 In describing Alangium decapetalum (Lam.], Sprengel says it is 

 spinescent. f Alangium liexapetalum (Lam.), says he, is spineless ; and 

 Alangium tomentosum (Lam,) is ^^ subinerme^' (slightly spineless?), 

 whatever that may mean. All these, says Sprengel, are found in the 

 East Indies. Trimen says that A. Lamarchii is occasionally armed 

 with sharp short spinous branchlets. 



As observed by Baillon, with regard to the ruminate nature of the 

 albumen, I may add that Dr. Trimen of Ceylon also observes, in de- 

 scribing the seed, that the embryo is " straight in the axis of slightly 

 ruminate albumen," and that the cotyledons are foliaceous.f It may 



* Prodromus : DeCandolle : Vol. HI, p. 203. "~ 



t Systema Vegetabilinm, vol. II, Gottingen, 1825 (classified rightly under " Polyaii' 

 dria — monogynia)" — K.R.K, 



X Trimen 's Hand-book of the Flora of Ceylon, Part II, 1894, pp. 285-86. N.O. Cornacea, 



