514 LXXXII. VERBENACE^ [Sphenodesme 



oblong, in fr. 1 in. long, calyx glabrous, mouth inflated in fruit, with 5 linear accessory 

 teeth alternating with the others, 5. S. Griffithiana, Wight Ic. 1. 1477 (under the plate 

 S. Jackiana). — Syn. Symphorema penlandrum, Kurz, Tenasserim. Similar to 4, but 

 calyx clothed with long hairs, a reflexed tooth in each sinus of the 5 lobes. 



(p.) Involucral bracts shorter than calyx, heads sessile or nearly so, in 

 axillary sometimes branched spikes. 



6. S. eryeiboides, Kurz. — Syn. Symphorema grossum, Kurz. Vern. Nwezat, Burm. 

 Lower Burma, common on the banks of streams and in damp places. A large ever- 

 green shrub, or a small tree, often climbing, 1. pubescent or tomentose beneath, fl. 

 heads fulvous tomentose. 



11. SYMPHOREMA, Roxb.- ; Fl. Brit. Ind. iv. 599". 



Large woody climbers, hairs stellate. Fl. sessile, in involucrate pedunculate 

 7-fld. heads, involucre of 6 bracts, much enlarged in fr. The 7- fid. head is a 

 dichotomous cyme with 3 central and 4 lateral fl., one pair of bracts supports the 

 primary, while 2 pairs support the two secondary bifurcations. Calyx turbinate, 

 teeth 4-8, short, corolla small, white, tube cylindric, lobes 6-16, narrowly 

 oblong, equal. Stamens as many as corolla-lobes, anthers exserted, ovate, cells 

 parallel. Ovary imperfectly 4-celled, ovules one in each cell, suspended from 

 the top of a central placenta, style Aliform, shortly bifid. Fruit nearly dry, 

 included in the calyx, 1-seeded. Species 3, one in the Philippines. 



1. S. involueratum, Koxb. Cor. PI. t. 186 ; Wight Ic. t. 362. Nu-ezat, Lower, Sigyi, 

 Upper Burma. Behar. Western Peninsula. Burma, Upper and Lower. Branchlets, 

 petioles and underside of 1. pubescent. L. ovate, usually toothed, blade 2-3, pet. J in. 

 Corolla J in., bracts of involucre in fr. slightly pubescent, thinly membranous, promi- 

 nently reticulate. 2. S. polyandrum, Wight Ic. t. 363, 111. t. 173 b. fig. 7. Mohurli 

 forest, Chanda district. Singbhum. Deccan. Stems twisting from left to right, 1. 

 •ovate, tomentose, blade 4-9, pet. J-i in. ; corolla i in. long, bracts of involucre densely 

 .grey-tomentose. 



14. AVICENNIA, Linn. ; Fl. Brit. Ind. iv. 604. 

 Species 3 on the sea coast within the tropics of both hemispheres. 



A. officinalis, Linn. ; Bedd. Man. t. 22. fig. 2.^Syn. A. tomentosa, Wall. 

 PI. As. Rar. t. 271 (not Jacq.) ; Wight Ic. t. 1481 ; Kurz F. Fl. ii. 276. Vern. 

 Tiivar, Mar. ; Ipati, Kan. ; Baen, Bani, Bird, Sundrib. ; Thami, net and 

 Thaml pyu, Burm. The true A. tomentosa, Jacq., is limited to South America, 

 and has white fl. (Schimper, Indo-Mal. Strandflora 98). 



A large evergreen shrub or tree, in the Sundriban attaining 60 ft. 

 and a great girth. Branchlets, petioles, underside of leaves and inflor- 

 escence clothed with a dense white or silvery tonientuni of very minute hairs. 

 Fl. yellow, sessile, in bracteate heads (contracted cymes) which are arranged 

 in trichotomous corymbs. Calyx divided to the base into 5 imbricate sepals, 

 corolla-tube short, limb 4-5-lobed. Stamens 4, in the throat of the tube, 

 anther-cells parallel. Ovary hairy, imperfectly 4-celled, ovules 4, suspended 

 from a central 4-winged placenta. Capsule compressed, dehiscing into two 

 thick valves. Seed one, cotyledons large, folded lengthwise, hypocotyl 

 (radicle) villous. 



Often gregarious, in tidal forests or on tidal sandy flats along the coasts of the Penin- 

 sula, the Sundriban, the Andamans and Burma. Fl. R. S. — Ceylon, East Africa, the 

 Malay Archipelago, New Guinea, Australia, Polynesia, New Zealand. The long cable- 

 like roots, which run horizontally through the mud, send up numerous erect blind 

 suckers, the ends of which stand above the surface of the water. They facilitate the 

 access of air to the roots, but sometimes they produce leaves and grow up into bushes. 

 The seed often germinates before it falls. The hairs of the hypocotyl are stiff and 

 recurved, they aid the seedling to fix itself in the mud. 



Avicenn ia coppices freely. On a transverse section the wood shows alternating narrow 

 concentric rings of xylem and phloem (wood and bast), which often anastomose. A.W. 

 Lushington reports (Ind. Forester xxiv. 59) that coppice shoots 25 and 35 months old 



