316 Lil. SALVADOEACEJS. [Salvadora. 



Shoots and leaves are a favourite fodder of camels ; they are pungent, eaten as 

 salad, and are celebrated as antidotes against poison. The fruit (puu, Fh.;p%ru, 

 Sindh) is pungent, bitter, and aromatic ; it is used medicinaUy. Salvadora 

 perdca has been identified with the Mustard-tree of Scripture. 



2. S. oleoides, Dne — Tab. XXXIX.— Jacq. Voy. Bot. t. 144.— Syn. 

 S. indica, Eoyle 111. p. 319. S. perdca, T. Anderson in Linn. See, Jour- 

 nal, V. Suppl. i. 29. Persian, Irak-Mndi (Eoyle). Vern. Jdl, van, vdni, 

 mithi van, Pb. ; Kahhar, Midbbar, jhdr, didr, mithi c?w, Smdh. ; Jhal, 

 N.W.P. 



A shrub or small tree, with stiff branches, ash-coloured or reddish grey 

 branchlets, and dull cinereous persistent foliage. Leaves glaucous, linear- 

 lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, blade l|^-2-J in. long, membranous when 

 young, coriaceous and somewhat fleshy when full-grown ; main lateral nerves 

 often indistinct. Flowers greenish- white, sessile, in erect compact axillary 

 paniculate spikes, often clustered and shorter than leaves. Calyx cup- 

 shaped, divided half-way or nearly half-way into 4 rounded, obtuse lobes. 

 Corolla as long as or a little longer than calyx. Fruit globose, 2^ lines 

 diam., yellow when ripe, dark brown or red when dry, supported by the 

 persistent calyx and marcescent coroUa. 



Abundant in the driest and most desert parts of the Panjab, trans and cis- 

 Indus, often forming great part of the vegetation for miles, ascending to 3000 ft. 

 trans- Indus, to 2400 in the Salt range. Less common north of the Salt range. 

 In North and Central Sindh (often associated with S. persica), not common 

 generally, but in one place (near Khairpur) more common than A', perdca. In 

 Harriana, Bikanir, near Delhi, Agra, Bnurtpur, farther east probably planted ; 

 also at Aden. The leaves are renewed about April, the young foliage is often 

 dark greenish-grey, but dull grey when full-grown. PI. generally March, April ; 

 fr. about June. 



In arid and saline soil a stunted scrub, but attains 20-25 ft. under favourable 

 conditions. Trunk short, often twisted or bent, girth 5-6 ft., 2 trees 11 ft. 4 

 in. and 12 ft. girth near Multan, noted by Edgeworth. Large trees generally 

 hoUow. Branches numerous, stiff, divergent, twisted, often swollen at forks. 

 Branches stifPer and crown narrower than S. perdca. Branchlets ash-coloured 

 or reddish grey. Bark \ in. thick, whitish grey, or dark grey, cleft into smalJ 

 plates by irregular shallow cracks, mostly longitudinal, and fewer cross-cracks. 

 Inner substance hard compact. Wood whitish, compact, soft, weight 49 lb. per 

 cub. ft. (Sindh). Structure similar to that of yS". ^emca. Not touched by white 

 ants in Sindh. In the South Panjab, where timber is scarce, it is often employed 

 for building, and for agricultural implements ; Persian wheels are made of it, 

 and (in Sindh) knee-timbers of boats. A poor fuel, requires 9-12 months to dry, 

 gives no heat, but mixed with scraps of pine- wood is useful for brick -burning. 

 Leaves a great deal of ash, and blocks the fire-places speedily. Shoots and 

 leaves are much browsed by camels. The fruit (PU, pUu, yiriju, Pb. ; Piru, 

 Sindh) is sweet, and is eaten largely. When dried it lormsian article of trade, 

 and tastes somewhat like currants. \ 



Ovoid cinereous galls are often formed on petioles an^ flower-stalks, and 

 small clustered, deformed leaves grow frequently in large numbers among the 

 flowers. The tree grows readily from seed, and coppices fairly well. Its growth 

 is believed to be more rapid than that of S. perdca, but the annual rings are 

 very indistinct, and obscured by the numerous concentric belts of alternating 

 white and darker tissue (often 15-16 on 1 in. of radius). 



