■^cer.] XXVII. SAPINDACE^. 113 



Armenia, North Persia. There is no diflference between the Himalayan speci- 

 mens and those from Western Asia ; those from Japan have the wings less divari- 

 cate : but the shape and direction of the wings is not always a steady character in 

 this genus. A. Lobelii, Tenore, from the higher mountains of South Italy, is 

 closely allied ; but Boissier, Fl. Orient, i. 949, considers it to be different from 

 A. loetum. 



The most common Majle in the N.W. Himalaya, usually found in mixed 

 forests above 7000 ft. Leafless in winter. Leaves tm'n yellow and red in autumn 

 before they are shed. Fl. about April, and the fruit ripens in summer. A 

 large tree, 50 ft., with erect straight trunk 6-7 ft. girth, and wide-spreading 

 branches. Bark dark brown, fairly smooth. Wood pinkish white, close-grained, 

 fairly strong and elastic, not much valued for construction, but used for ploughs, 

 bedsteads, and poles to carry loads. A large portion of the Tibetan diinking- 

 cups are probably made of the knotty excrescences of this tree. The branches 

 are lopped for fodder. 



5. HOTiOTSMA., Linn. 



Shrubs, with alternate, simple, and entire leaves (pinnate in some of the 

 Australian species), witliout stipules. Flowers unisexual and bisexual, 

 often dioecious. Sepals 5 (sometimes fewer), valvate in the bud. ^Petals 

 none. Disc small or inconspicuous. Stamens usually 8 ; filaments short ; 

 anthers basifixed, quadrangular, 2-ceUed, introrse, the cells opening longi- 

 tudinally. Ovary 3- or 4-, rarely 5- or 6-celled, with 3 ovules in each cell. 

 Capsule membranous or coriaceous, 2-5-celled, opening septicidally into 

 as many valves as cells, each valve with a dorsal angle, often produced 

 into a vertical wing. Seeds 1 or 2, with a thickened funicle, but not 

 arillate ; embryo spirally curled. 



A large genus, of which about 45 species are known, with few exceptions 

 endemic in Australia. 



-f 1. D. viscosa, Linn. ; Boissier Fl. Orient, i. 953. — Syn. D. Burman- 

 niana, DC; "W. & A. Prodr. 114 ; Wight 111. t. 52 ; D. angustifolia, D. 

 cLioica, Eoxb. Fl. Ind. ii. 256. Vein. Sanatta, mendru, ban-mendu, Pb. ; 

 Banderu, C.P. ; Bandurgi, Can. 



Leaves and young shoots more or less viscid with a bright yellow resin. 

 Leaves varying from broadly oblong-lanceolate to linear-cuneate, gradually 

 tapering into a marginate petiole, coriaceous, glabrous, shining, 1-4 in. 

 long, acute obtuse or emarginate, entire or with shallow indentations, 

 often revolute; one central nerve, with numerous parallel side-nerves, 

 more or less distinct. Flowers in short terminal panicles or racemes. 

 Sepals ovate, in the male flowers as long as stamens. Anthers oblong. 

 Style generally longer than calyx, shortly 2-lobed at the top. Capsule 

 membranous with 2, 3 or 4 membranous wings from base to style, includ- 

 ing the wings f in. across, and ^ in. long. Seeds opaque, dark brown or 

 black. 



Common in the lower hills of North-East Afghanistan, the Trans-Indus terri- 

 tory, Sindh, Beluchistan, and the Panjab. Ascends to 4500 ft. in the Himalaya. 

 Also in Central and South India, Burma, and Ceylon. Gregarious, covers ex- 

 tensive tracts of country, often to the exclusion of other shrubs, in the Dekkan, 

 in Mysore ; here and there in North- West India. Outside India in Arabia, 



H 



