1 86 



CLASSIFICATION 



A, Whole flower {p, keel petal), ri, Dissected 

 flower (s, sepals, w.5., wing: sepals, J>, keel petal). 



Taraktogenos Kurzii, King, or chal-moogra, a tree 

 of Chittagong, the seeds and oil of which are used 

 y^ in the cure of leprosy 



j^^y...iii.s. ^^j other cutaneous 



diseases. The /7a- 

 courtia are spiny, 

 and have small 

 glabrous leaves with 



Fig. 156.— Meradu or Garadu (Po/jv^r^^a cAmeMsjs) (^JjJqJj eoidemiis. 



They are thus 

 adapted to grow in 

 dry sandy places. The water that they can store up 

 can hardly escape through the glabrous and thick- 

 walled leaves, and is thus economized. 

 Plants which thus conserve their 

 water-supply are known as xero- 

 PHYTES, as opposed to plants like 

 "■ Nyviphcea and Lotus, which have no 

 St need to conserve water, and have 

 therefore large leaves with thin epi- 

 dermis, which allows free transpira- 

 tion or escape of water. Such plants 

 are therefore called 



HYDROPHYTES. 



Nat. Order 16. Poly- 

 galacecE. — This Order 

 is represented by one 

 well - known weed 



meradu, commonly 

 met with in pastures 

 {Polygala chinensis) 

 (fig. 156), with orange- 

 coloured small homogamous very irregular bee- 

 flowers which resemble those of Papilionacece, but 

 the wings belong to the calyx and not to the corolla, 



Fig". 157. — A, Vertical Section of Flower of 

 Polygala. k k, outer sepals ; k\ inner wing- 

 like sepal; p, anterior fringed and keeled 

 petal ; i, staminal tube ; a, anthers ; st, stigma. 

 B, Stamens spread out. 



