216 XXXIV. HAMAMELIDE^. {Parrotia 



1. PAEROTIA, C. A. Meyer. 

 Trees and shrubs, with large, deciduous stipules, deciduous crenate 

 leaves and capitate flowers, the flower-heads enclosed in large memhran- 

 ous bracts. Calyx campanulate, adhering to the base of ovary ; petals 

 none. Stamens 5-15, perigynous ; iilaments long, filiform ; anthers basi- 

 fixed, oblong, dehiscing longitudinally. Ovary 2-ceUed ; styles 2 (rarely 

 3) ; one ovule in each cell. 



1. P. Jacquemontiana, Decaisne^Tab. XXVIII.— Jacq. Voy. Bot. t. 

 82. — Syn. Fothergilla involucrata, Falconer. Vern. Pusser, peshora, 

 pahu, po, Jallar, kirni. 



A large deciduous, gregarious shrub or small tree, with stellate pubes- 

 cence on young branches, stipules, calyx, and the underside of young 

 leaves. Leaves orbicular or obovate, obtuse, penniveined, the lowest pair 

 of nerves from the base, margin deep-crenate. Stipules broadly oblong, 

 as long as petioles or longer. Flower-heads ovoid, | in. long, with about 

 20 sessile flowers, on short thick stalks, generally at the end of short, leaf- 

 bearing branchlets, each head enclosed in 4 large rotundate bracts, mem- 

 branous, white, often emarginate. Flowers bisexual ; calyx campanu- 

 late ; limb thick, wooUy, truncate or with a few linear lobes. Stamens 

 generally 15, inserted inside the limb of calyx; anthers oblong without 

 appendage, the cells dehiscing laterally by 2 narrow longitudinal valves, 

 opening like a pair of folding-doors. Capsule woolly, with stellate tomen- 

 tum, girt by the adhering calyx-tube, 2-ceUed, the cells separating when 

 ripe, each cell with 1 seed in a hard, homy endocarp, which opens at the 

 top in 2 rostrate valves. Embryo oblique in copious albumen. 



North- West Himalaya in many places, from the Indus to the Ravi, at eleva- 

 tions between 2800 and 8500 ft. Rare trans-Indus. Generally found on low 

 slopes, growing gregariously in extensive thickets, often covering several acres, 

 to the exclusion of other shrubs, and with little or no grass underneath. The 

 stems are grouped in close clusters of 5-6 or more together, 15-20 ft. high, and 

 about 15 in. girth, with a few divaricate branches at the top. Rarely solitary, 

 with a more tree-like habit. Fl. March-May ; fr. July-Sept. The fouage turns 

 yellow before being shed. 



Bark thin, firm, dark brown, occasionally light sUvery grey, with many 

 specks, and transverse, blotchy, darker rings, not much marked, except by small 

 circular, elevated, whitish spots. Sapwood whitish, heartwood brown, close, 

 compact, fine- and even-graiued, strong, 12-16 rings per inch of radius. Highly 

 esteemed, for walking-sticks, charpoys, tent-pegs, and rice-pestles, also used for 

 bows (goleU) for throwing pellets (gol) of baked earth. 



This tree is valuable on account of the toughness and pliability of its twigs, 

 which are used extensively for binding loads and basket-work. They are pre- 

 ferred to all other material for making the twig-bridges over the great rivers of 

 the Panjab Himalaya. These bridges are often 300 ft. long, and consist of one 

 large rope to walk on, and two smaller side ropes, one for each hand, with much 

 smaller ropes connecting the hand-ropes with the foot-rope. In Western Kash- 

 mir, near MozufFurabad, these ropes are made of hides, but ordinarily they are 

 twisted of twigs of Parrotia, when it can be got, mixed with Gotoneaster, Olea, 

 and Indigofera, and where these plants are not attainable, they are made of the 

 Birch and Willow, 'The Parrotia is cut for this purpose at all seasons of the 

 year. With frequent piecemeal repair such bridges do not generally last more 

 than three years. 



