152 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX, 



mentioned above is also the synonym they have given to M. pterygo- 

 sperma; so that practically M. polygona, D.C., and M. pterygosperma 

 must be considered the species of the same plant. The species with 

 wingless seeds known as Moringa aptera, which is a native of Arabia 

 and Africa, is not very distinct from M. pterygosperma' Sir George 

 Birdwood observes that DeCandolle doubts the distinctness of these two 

 species ; rt and it may be," says he, " that the Indian Moringa, although 

 it has not the hard wood and oil seed of the Arabian, African, and 

 West Indian plants, is yet specifically identical with them." 



The species described by Dalzell and Gibson as M. Concanensis, 

 Nimmo (in Graham's Catalogue, p. 43) would appear to be a mere 

 local variety of M. pterygosperma. It is thus described : — A tree 

 something like M. pterygosperma^ but distinguished by very much 

 larger and rounder leaflets, and a much more powerful odour of horse- 

 radish ; flowers yellowish, with pinkish streaks ; anthers 5, perfect 

 but only one-celled ; 5 abortive and much smaller ; flowers in Nov- 

 ember in the jungles near Penn (Kolaba Collectorate). Dalzell 

 and Gibson have found it also on the hills in Lus, and have expressed 

 an opinion that it very probably will be found in Arabia. 



Nairne, our latest writer on the Flora of Western India, in referring 

 to Moringa Concanensis, observes that the plant is like the M. pterygos- 

 perma, but that its leaves and panicles are larger ; its leaflets also 

 larger oval, roundish ; flowers sweet-scented ; petals yellowish, red- 

 streaked at the base. Nairne further remarks that the M. Concanensis 

 is wild at various places in the Konkan, also in Sind and Rajputana. 

 That it grows wild in Rajputana is evidently asserted on the authority 

 of Brandis, who, as I have already noted in my former papers, is one 

 of the most accurate observers and descriptive writers on the Indian 

 Flora. It is just as well to quote his remarks in extenso : — ll M. Con- 

 canensis grows wild on the dry hills of Rajputana (Sainjna) near 

 Kishengurh and Bednore, also on the hills of Sindh (Mhua) and the 

 Konkan. It has yellow flowers, bipinnate leaves, pinnse 4 to 6 pair 

 simple pinnate, except sometimes the lowest, which are bipinnate, 

 with broadly ovate leaflets one inch long, on petioles ^ inch long, with 

 4 to 6 pairs of rather prominent lateral nerves." 



As a rule Moringa pterygosperma is more largely found near human 

 habitation — on the outskirts of existing or extinct villages, in cultivated 



