26 XI. DIPTEEOCARPB^. [Shorea. 



Order XI. DIPTBROCARPE-ffil. 



Trees (one genus of climbing shrubs), usually resinous, with alternate 

 penniveined simple leaves. Flowers regular, bisexual. Calyx-tube cam- 

 panulate, free or connate with the torus or ovary, 5-lobed ; lobes imbri- 

 cate, persistent and generally enlarged when the fruit ripens. Petals 5, 

 twisted, united at the base, or free. Stamens free, either 10 or 5 in one 

 series, or 15 in two series, or indefinite and multiseriate, inserted on the 

 torus. Ovary sessile with a broad base on, or partly immersed in, the 

 torus, 3-celled, rarely 1- or 2-ceUed. Fruit free, or enclosed in the en- 

 larged calyx, with 1, rarely 2 seeds. Seed large, exalbuminous. — Gen. PL 

 i. 189 ; Eoyle lU. 105 ; Wight lU. i. 85. 



To this family belong the Wood-oil trees (Dipterocarpus) of Burma, the 

 Indian Copal-tree ( Vateria Indica) of the Western Ghats, and the Lac-tree 

 (Shorea laccifera) of Mysore. 



1. SHOREA, Eoxb. 



Calyx-tube short, adnate to torus, all segments enlarged into long wings 

 when in fruit. Stamens indefinite (rarely 15), connective subulate, over- 

 topping the anthers. Ovary 3-celled, ovules 2 in each cell. Fruit cori- 

 aceous, indehiscent, tightly enclosed by the base of the calyx-segments. 

 Seed 1, ovoid ; cotyledons fleshy. 



1. S. robusta, Gsertn.— Tab. IX.— Eoxb. Cor. PI. t. 212; Fl. Ind. ii. 

 615 ; Bedd. Fl. Sylv. t. 4; Hook. Fl. Ind. i._306. The Sal free.— Sans. 

 Sdla, asvakarna. Vern. Sal, sola, salvia, sdkhu, sdltu, saJcher. Local 

 names : Sarye, sarei, rinjal, gugal, C.P. ; Kordh, Oudh. 



A large tree, young branches, petioles, young leaves and inflorescence 

 hoary or pubescent. Leaves glabrate, shining when full grown, 4-8 in. 

 long, petiolate, broad-ovate, from a rounded or cordate base, entire, more 

 or less acuminate, ending in an obtuse point ; stipules caducous. Flowers 

 yellowish, shortly pedicellate, in unilateral racemes, arranged in long, 

 compound axillary panicles ; inflorescence, calyx, and outside of petals 

 clothed with soft grey pubescence. Segments of calyx enlarged in fAxit 

 into 5 unequal, obtuse, oblong or spathulate wings 3-4 in. long, contracted 

 above the base, brown, with 10-15 parallel longitudinal veins and fine 

 reticulation between. Petals (at the time of flowering) 4 times the length 

 of calyx, orange inside. Stamens 25-30 or more, anthers pilose at the 

 apex, style subulate. Fruit ovoid, acuminate, \ iu. long, hoary. 



The area at present occupied by the Sal tree, forms two irregular, but fairly- 

 defined belts, which are separated by the Gangetic plain. The northern or 

 sub-Himalayan belt extends from Assam to the Kangra valley in the Panjab. 

 Within these limits Sal forms extensive forests, skirting the foot of the hills 

 and entering into the Boons and valleys, ascending in places to 3000 ft. Near 

 the western end of this belt the Sal forests are less extensive, and they termi- 

 nate near the Bias river in a number of scattered patches of limited area. 

 West of the Ganges the Sal is not found in the plains ; but in Eohilkhand, 

 Oudh, Gorakhpur, and Bengal, Sal forests exist, or existed formerly, at a consi- 

 derable distance from the hUls. The second, or central Indian belt, occupies 

 the hilly country of Behar, Eewah, Chota Nagpur, Midnapux, and the Meikal 



