454 LXix. EUPHOKBIACB^. [Phyllmthus. 



rous or sligMly pubescent, elliptic or obovate, short-petiolate, about 1 in. 

 long ; lateral nerves joined by reticulate veins. Flowers in axillary fas- 

 cicles, on slender pedicels, male fl. more numerous, generally 1 or 2 female 

 fl. in a fascicle of male flowers. Calyx of 5 ovate membranous segments, 

 and 5 distinct glands alternating with them. Stamens 5, the 3 inner 

 longer, on thick filaments, more or less connate into a central column, 

 the 2 outer short, free. Ovary globose, 8-12-celled; styles short. Fruit 

 a black or dark-purple depressed succulent berry \ in. diam. 



Common on low moist ground. North-West India, Sindh (climbing over the 

 largest trees in the Belas along the Indus), Eajputana (Bhuitpur Ghunna), Ben- 

 gal, South India, Burma, Ceylon, Indian Archipelago. Flowers nearly through- 

 out the year. Bark grey ; wood greyish brown, light, soft, pores large and 

 numerous. 



4. P. Emblica, Linn.— Tab. LII.— Eoxb. Fl. Ind. iii. 671 ; Bedd. Fl. 



Sylv. t. 258. — Syn. Emblica officinalis, Gsertn. ; Wight Ic. 1. 1896. Sans. 

 Dhdtri, dmalaha. Vern. Anibal, amhali, Pb. ; Daula, dmla, amlika, aura, 

 aunra, aola, North and Central India ; Milli mara, Gonds of Satpura ; 

 Nelli mara, Canarese ; Shabju, Burml 



A small or middle-sized tree with grey bark and light-green feathery 

 foliage. Leaves linear acute, glabrous, ^ in. long, edge thickened, subses- 

 sile, distichous and approximate, imbricate when young, on hairy 4-8 in. 

 long branchlets, having the appearance of pmnate leaves ; stipules minute. 

 Flowers small, greenish-yellow, in lateral fascicles on the leaf-bearing 

 branchlets, in the axils of the leaves or on the naked portion of the branch 

 below the leaves, female flowers few, subsessile, male flowers numerous, 

 on short slender pedicels, both on the same branchlet. Calyx of 6 ob- 

 long obtuse segments. Disc in the male flowers of 6 minute glands. 

 Anthers 3-5, extrorse on a central column. Ovary 3-celled, half immersed 

 in an annular disc, style short with 3 recurved stigmas, dUated and lobed 

 at the top. Fruit a fleshy globose berry, § in. diam., 3-ceUed, 6-seeded, 

 with 6 prominent lines, pale yellow, sometimes reddish when ripe, of an 

 acid and astringent taste. 



Conmion in dry deciduous forests in most parts of India, except in the ex- 

 treme north-west corner of the Panjab, ascending in Garhwal and Kamaon to 

 4500 ft. Burma, Ceylon, Indian Archipelago. Often cultivated. Fl. March- 

 May ; the fruit ripens Oct.-Feb. More or less leafless from February to April. 

 Attains 30-40 ft., and 3-6, occasionally 9 ft. girth, but generally smaller. Trunk 

 often crooked or gnarled, frequently with irregular excrescences, branches strong 

 spreading. Bark thin, grey greenish or brown, with fine, close horizontd 

 wrinkles, and few vertical cracks, inner substance dark red or purple, compact 

 and fibrous. Wood mottled brown, red, and yellow, inner wood darker colour- 

 ed, but no distinctly marked heartwood, hard, close- and straight -grained. 

 Medullary rays very broad, of a lighter colour than the tissue between, showing 

 on a vertical radial section like shining plates and giving a reticulate appear- 

 ance on a tangential section. The broad medullary rays give the wood some 

 resemblance to that of Garallia integerrima. Weight between 42.5 and 49 lb., 

 value of P. between 532 and 617. Puckle (List of Western Mysore Woods, 

 1862) gives the weight at 67.5 lb., and the value of P. from 898 to 1052. Used 



