THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY, 241 



leaf," says Surgeon-General Balfour, " the marking-nut tree merits 

 observation." He says that the mature corolla and receptacle are 

 fleshy and sweetish-sour. As against this, I may observe that the 

 receptacle is fleshy ; and not the corolla, but the calyx-base. The corolla 

 is distinctly deciduous ; so is the upper part of the calyx where the 

 sepals are distinct. " The marking-nut is well described by the Arabs," 

 says Dr. Dymock in one of his earlier notes on this plant, li as resembl- 

 ing the heart of an animal, the torus representing the auricles and the 

 fruit the ventricles." — (Pharmaceut. Journal, p. 1003, Vol. VIII, 

 1877-78, 3rd Ser.) 



" The bark of the younger parts," says Roxburgh, " is smooth; " but 

 from an examination of the plants growing in and around Thana, I find 

 that the younger parts are invariably covered with a light ash-coloured 

 or brownish pubescence. Brandis fully bears me out in this assertion 

 when he says that ' c young branches, inflorescence, petiole, and under- 

 side of leaves are clothed with a short, somewhat harsh tomentum of 

 simple hairs." The simple hairs, as seen by me under the microscope, 

 magnified about two hundred times, are unicellular. Their shape 

 varies much ; some are straight and blunt, or sharp-pointed ; others 

 wavy and sharp-pointed. These forms are figured under No. 5 in 

 the supplementary Plate M. <c The bark is astringent and used in 

 dyeing," says Brandis. 



Wight and Arnott say that the under-surface of the leaves is ■ • scarcely 

 downy." This is not the case so far as the Thana plants are 

 concerned. If anything, the under-surface is distinctly downy. 

 The tomentum is apparent even to the naked eye. Kurz agrees 

 with me in this, for he says, " the under-surface is covered with a 

 thick grey velvetty tomentum." 



Kat& Bhat of Junagadh says that the flowers are red (p. 285 

 Nighant-Sangraha). All the previous writers are unanimous in 

 describing the colour of the flowers as greenish-yellow or whitish- 

 green. The stigma is sometimes tinged brownish. 



With regard to the one-celled nature of the ovary in Semecarpus 

 anacardium I have this to observe. In the tribe Spondia?, of the 

 Natural Order Anacardiacece, the ovary is syncarpous, consisting f 

 2 to 5 carpels and containing as many cells. From this occurrence of 

 several distinct carpels in one flower among the Spondice, the one- 



