290 XLViii. SAPOTACaffi. [Bassia. 



grained. Seasons well, is strong tough and durable. The cub. ft. of seasoned 

 heartwood weighs 63 (Fowke), 66 (Skinner), 68.5 (Cunningham, Gwalior). R. 

 Thompson gives it 52.8 (heartwood ?). Unseasoned, 78-81 lb. Value of P., 

 715 (Cunningham), 760 (Skinner). Not much used, as the tree is not generally 

 felled. Has been used for railway-sleepers in the Cent. Prov. A gum exudes 

 from cracks and incisions in the bark. 



The succulent flowers fall by night in large quantities from the tree, and are 

 gathered early in the morning ; they have a sickly sweet taste and smell. They 

 are dried in the sun, sold in the bazaar, and form an important article of food 

 in many parts of India. They are eaten raw or cooked, often with parched 

 grain, and put in sweetmeats. Coarse and strong spirit is distilled from them. 

 The ripe and unripe fruit is eaten. From the seeds a greenish - yellow oil 

 is expressed, which has at first the consistence of common oU, is eaten by 

 Gonds and other tribes of the Satpura range, and is used to adulterate ghee 

 (clarified- butter). In a cold climate the oil keeps good a long time, but in the 

 plains of India it gets a bitter taste and rancid smell after a few months' expo- 

 sure to the air, separating into a heavy brown mass below, and a little clear 

 fluid above. The oilcake is used to poison fish, and the smoke from burning it 

 is said to kill insects and rats. It is also used as an emetic. 



f 2. B. butyracea, Eoxb.— Tab. XXXV._As. Ees. viii. 499 ; Eoxb. 

 Fl. Ind. ii. 527. — Vern. Chmra, Chaiura, Kamaon. ; Okeuli, Oudh. 

 (The butter is called Chaiura kaj/ina in Kamaon, a,nd ^hulel, phulwa, phal- 

 wara, in the plains.) 



A large tree ; branchlets, petioles, pedicels and under side of leaves 

 with soft floccose tomentum. Leaves coriaceous, clustered near ends of 

 branches, obovate or obovate-oblong, 6-12 in. long, on petioles 1 in. long; 

 main lateral nerves 15-20 pair. Stipules minute, caducous. Mowers 

 numerous, near the ends of branches, below a tuft of leaves or in the axils 

 of the lower leaves, drooping, on pedicels l-I^ in. long. Calyx coriaceous, 

 densely clothed with rusty tomentum ; sepals 5, ovate. Corolla pale 

 yellow, tube cylindric, not fleshy, as long as calyx, limb of 8 spreading, 

 oblong obtuse divisions, as long as tube. Stamens 30-40, glabrous, in- 

 serted in the mouth of the tube, filaments as long as anthers. Berry 

 ovoid, smooth, fleshy, 1-3-seeded. , • 



Sut-Himalayan tract and otiter Himalayan ranges, 1500-4500 ft., Kamaon to> 

 Bhutan. Sparse (as a small tree) in the hUl forests of the Qonda division of 

 the Oudh forests. Attains 40-50 ft., with a short, straight trunk 5-6 ft. girth. 

 Fl. Nov. -Jan. ; in Kamaon bees are believed to make excellent honey from the 

 flowers (Madden). Bark \ in. thick, dark grey, brownish or blackish. 



The sweet, insipid pulp of the fruit is eaten. From the seeds a soft solid 

 vegetable butter is extracted, of the consistence of fine lard, and of a delicate white 

 colour, which does not melt in the heat of the plains, and keeps a long time 

 without deteriorating. It melts completely at 120° F. Perfumed with cloves 

 or attar of roses, it is used as ointment, and is held in high esteem as an 

 external application in rheumatic and other painful aifections (Pharm. Ind. 

 131). The cake left after the oil has been extracted is eaten. The flowers are 

 not eaten. 



Ba&sia hngifolia, WUld. ; Roxb. Fl. Ind. ii. 523 ; Vem. Ippi, ippe, illupi; is 

 a common and most useful tree in the forests of western Mysore, Malabar, the 



