Kydia-I XII. MALVACEAE. 29 



Cav., a small soft-wooded tree, with large yellow and crimson flowers, is 

 found in Kamaon (Madden). 



1. KYDIA, EoxlD. 



Flowers unisexual, numerous, in long panicles. Calyx campanulate, 

 5-lobed, persistent, surrounded by and united at the base with a 4-6- 

 leaved involucel. Petals 5, longer than calyx, attached by their claws 

 to the base of the staminal column. Stamens monadelphous, the tube 

 divided down to the middle into 5 segments, each bearing from 3-8 sessUe 

 anthers closely placed together at the apex. Style one, 3-cleft ; stigma 

 large, fleshy. Capsule globose, 3-celled, opening loculicidally, 3-seeded. 



1. K. calycina, Eoxb. ; Cor. PL t. 215 ; Fl. Ind. iii. 188 ; "W. & A. 

 Prodr. 70 ; Wight Ic. t. 879, 880.— Syn. K. fraterna, Eoxb. ; Cor. PI. 

 t. 216. K. Roxhurghiana, Wight Ic. t. 881. Vem. Puli, pulau, 

 paulon, patha, pattah, paitia, poiari. Local n. Barranga, hhoti, C.P. 



Young leaves, branches, inflorescence, involucel, and calyx covered with 

 a grey tomentum of stellate hairs. Leaves on petioles about half the 

 length of blade, from 4-6 in. long, and about equally broad, with 5 or 

 7 palmate nerves, lobed, angled or round, margin more or less dentate, 

 dark-coloured above, and pale beneath. Flowers polygamous, in axillary 

 or terminal panicles ; petals white or pale yellow, longer than calyx ; 

 involucel 4-6-leaved, in the male flowers at the time of flowering as long as 

 the calyx, in the fertile flowers longer than calyx, enlarged afterwards, and 

 when the seed ripens about three or four times longer than calyx. Cap- 

 sule covered with fuscous tomentum. 



Common in the dry forests of most parts of India, not in the arid region. 

 Sub-Himalayan tract from the Indus to Assam. Oiidh, Bengal, Central Provinces, 

 the Peninsula, and Burma. 



In North India generally a large shrub, in favourable localities a small tree 

 to 40 ft. high, with a short erect trunk to 3 ft. in girth. The old leaves are shed 

 in Feb., the new foliage appears in April and May. Flowers generally from 

 July to Oct. ; the fruit ripens in the cold season, and hangs on the tree for 

 months, conspicuous by the brown shining calyx and involucel. Bark of trunk 

 and large branches about 1 iach thick, inside viscid, mucilaginous, outside, 

 greyish brown, or almost black, dotted with white specks, and undulated with 

 longitudinal T^ninkles. 



Sap and heartwood conform, close and straight-p'ained, when seasoned, 

 weight from 40 to 45 lb. per cub. ft. Used occasionally for building, ploughs 

 and oars, and for carving. In Garhwal a strong coarse cordage is made of the 

 inner fibrous part of the bark. In North India the mucilaginous bark (chulcla 

 patha) is employed for the clarification of sugar. 



2. ADANSONIA, Linn. 



Trees with digitate leaves. Flowers large, solitary. Calyx ovoid or ob- 

 long, deeply splitting into 3 to 5 lobes. Staminal column divided at the 

 top into numerous filaments, each bearing a terminal anther. Ovary 5- 

 to 10-celled, with many ovules in each cell ; style divided at the summit 

 into as many radiating stigmas as there are cells. Fruit oblong, woody. 



