Corylus.] LXXII. CUPULIFEE^. 495 



deal of light, but thrives well under standards of Oak, Biich, and Ash. Makes 

 excellent hoops. No heartwood, medullary rays broad, pores fine. 



Oedeb LXXIII. MYIlICACE.ffi. 



Shrubs or trees, mostly aromatic, with alternate simple, exstipulate, 

 generally serrate, coriaceous leaves -with a prominent midrib and often 

 resinous dots beneath. Flowers monoicous or dioicous, the male and 

 female in catkins or spikes. Male fl. : Stamens 2-16, in the axU of lateral 

 bracts, sometimes with 2 or more lateral bractlets ; anthers 2-celled, -the 

 filaments often connate at the base. Female fl. : Perianth none ; ovary 

 1 -celled with 1 basal ovule, in the axil of a lateral bract, generally 

 surrounded by 2-4 more or less adhering bracteoles; stigmas 2, sessile. 

 Fruit a hard.-shelled, 1-seeded nut, clothed with a fleshy or waxy pericarp. 

 Seed exalbuminous, cotyledons fleshy, radicle superior. 



1. MYBICA, Linn. 



(Characters those of the Order.) 



1. M. sapida. Wall. Tent. Fl. Nep. t. 45. — Vern. Kaphal, Mephal, 

 N.W. Himal. ; Kdbud, Nepal. 



A moderate-sized (always %) evergreen dioicous tree, the current year's 

 branchlets tomentose or pubescent. Leaves with a faint pleasant aromatic 

 smell when rubbed or broken, alternate, lanceolate or oblanceolate, nar- 

 rowed into a short petiole, those on older trees 3-5 in. long, entire, coria- 

 ceous, on the under side pale or rust-coloured, with numerous black 

 resinous dots ; petiole and midrib pubescent ; main lateral nerves anasto- 

 mosing by prominent intramarginal and reticulate veins. Leaves on 

 young plants and shoots 5-8 in. long, membranous, with large and sharp 

 serratures, and more numerous, prominent, main lateral nerves. Male 

 catkins cyHndric, \ in. long, sessile in lax axillary drooping racemes, as 

 long as leaf or shorter. Female flowers in slender axiUary spikes, styles 

 red. Fruit a sessile ovoid drupe, several on axillary peduncles, f in. long, 

 tuberculate, pubescent while young, glabrous when ripe, with scanty red- 

 dish pulp, which is composed of cylindric or clavate fleshy hairs filled 

 with red juice mixed with fine dry hairs or fibres. Nut rugose, pitted. ~ 



Himalaya, outer ranges, from 3000 to 6000 ft., extending north-west to the 

 Eavi, but scarce beyond the Sutlej. Assam, Kasia hills. Not gregarious in the 

 N.W. Himalaya, generally in mixed forests. The leaves are renewed in April 

 and May; flowers generally in Oct.-Dec, the fruit ripening in May. It has, 

 however, been fovmd in flower in spring. Attains .30 ft., with a thick erect 

 trunk. Bark dark- or brownish-grey, with deep vertical wrinkles. Wood pale- 

 brown, heavy, compact, and hard. The fruit is eaten, and it is sold in the bazars 

 of the'hiUs, the pulp is scanty, but with a pleasant aromatic sweet and acidu- 

 lous taste. The bark is the most valuable product of the tree ; it is largely ex- 

 ported to the plains, used as an aromatic stimulant, and externally as a plaster 

 against rheumatism (Pharm. Ind. 217). 



