266 



CLASSIFICATION 



thus are common roadside weeds (fig. 235); pituli 

 {Trewia nudiflora) (figs. 236, 237), a deciduous tree with 

 dioecious pollen-flowers; bichuti or jal-bichuti {Tragm 

 involucrata), a perennial small twining herb with 

 stems, leaves, and fruits full of stinging bristles, used 

 by village schoolmasters as an instrument of casti- 

 gating truant boys; akrote or Walnut {Aleurites 



■moluccana) — not the 

 EnglishWalnut — a tree 

 pretty common in gar- 

 dens about Calcutta, 

 originally a Malayan 

 plant ; Cassava or 



Fig:. 236. — Pituli {Trewia ntidiflofa^ ^ Fig:. 237. — Pituli {Trewia nudiflora) J 

 ?M, Male spike or catkin. s/, Stigma, y, Ovary, 



Tapioca {Manihot utilissima), a tall herbaceous plant 

 with alternate large entire or digitate leaves and big 

 tuberous roots, a native of South America, now largely 

 cultivated in Bengal for its roots, which yield a kind 

 of flour for making bread; swet-basanta {Acalypha 

 indica) (fig. 238), a common erect annual weed of 

 waste lands with the female flowers included in a cam- 

 panulate green bract; the Indian Spurge {Euphorbia 

 hypericifolia, van indica), an annual weed with milky 

 juice, small opposite simple leaves, and minute green- 

 ish flowers in a cyathium; E. heterophylla Linn., an 



