566 XXXVII. MELiACEiE. (W. P. Hiem.} 



14. BSDSOjaEA, Hook. fil. 



Trees or shrubs. Leaves 1-5-foliolate, opposite or subopposite ; leaflets 

 quite entire. Racemes or panicles axillary, few-flowered ; flowers of mode- 

 rate size, subglobose bermaplirodite. Calyx 4-6-partite, with broadly- 

 ovate imbricated segments. Petals 4-6, orbicular, much imbricated. 

 Staminal tube short or globose, erenulate ; anthers 5-6, sessile, partially 

 or wholly exserted ; connective thick ; cells narrow, marginal, at length 

 confluent at the apex. Ovary short, hairy, more or less immersed in the 

 inconspicuous disk, 3-celled ; cells 2-ovuled; style short thick, stigma 

 3-lobed, pyramidal. Fruit coriaceous, ellipsoidal ovoid or subglobose, 

 often acute at the apex, more or less ribbed and densely covered with 

 closely set scurfy and stellate tomentum, tardily dehiscent,. 2-3-celledj 

 septa thin and often obsolete. Seeds 3-5, large, more or less angular, 

 exarillate {Beddome). — Disteib. An endemic genus. 



1. B. Indica, Hooh. f. in Benth. dh Hook. f. Gen. PI. i. 336 ; young 

 shoots somewhat lepidote, leaflets S.elliptic obtuse glabrate base somewhat 

 cuneate, panicles lax racemose, pedicels usually long, flowers 6-4-merous, 

 staminal tube short, anthers 5, fruit ovoid to oblong. Bedd. in Trans. 

 Linn. Soc. xxv. 212 ; Anal. Gen. Ivi. ; Fl. Sylvat. t. 135 (smaller figure). 



Western Peninsula, from Kurg to Cape Comorin, ascending to 3-4000 ft. Anemia 

 rocks, Sispara, Hb. Wight, 417. 



A twiggy ehrub. Leaves 6-12 in., leaflets 3-7 by 1^-3 in. ; petiolnles J-1 in. 

 Flowers |— j in. diam. Fruit 1-14 in. long, more or less furrowed, rough with close-set 

 rusty scales. 



2. B. simpliclfolla, Beddome Fl. Sylvat. t 135 ; young parts with 

 scurfy ' scales, leaflets solitary elliptic or narrowly so subacuminate 

 glabrescent base obtuse or somewhat cuneate, panicles or racemes from 

 much shorter than the leaves to much longer or the flowers occasionally 

 solitary, flowers 5-6-inerous, staminal tube large and globose or smaller, 

 fruit as in the genus. 



"Westerh Penihsula ; from the S. Concan to the Anamallay hills. 



A tree lip to 8 ft. in girth and 25 in height. Leaves 3-6 by 1 |-3J in. ; petioles |-1 in., 

 much thickened and quasi-articulated near the apex. Flowers variable in size, y^-w ™- 

 diain ; pedicels xj-'i i". long. Fruit oblong, size of pigeon's egg. — Beddome gives the 

 following varieties. 



Vae. a ; racemes much longer than the leaves, flowers J-i'y iu. diam. rufous- 

 tomentose.^-Wyuaad, Tinnevelly hills and Travancor, alt. 2-4000 ft. 



Vab. /3, pwrviflorai panicles very small not much longer than the petioles; flowers 

 iV-J in. diam. rufous-tomentose. — Anamallay and Piilney hills, alt. 8-4000 ft. 



Vae. 7, racemosa ; , racevaea filiform longer than the leaves, pubescence scurfy. — 

 Wynaad, Coorg, S. Canara. 



15. CABAPA, AubL 



Glabrous- littoral treea Leaves 2- or 4- or sometimes 6-foIiolate ; leaf- 

 lets opposite quite entire feebly nerved. Panides lax, axillary, flowers 

 hermaphrbdite. Calyx 4-fid, short. Petals 4, reflexed, contorted sinis- 

 trosely(as seen from within). Staminal tube urceolate-globose, 8-dentate 

 at apex, teeth bipartite ; anthers 8, 2-celled, just included, sessile at top 

 of tube, alternating with the teeth. Disk fleshy, cup-shaped, adherent to 

 the base of the ovary. Ovary 4-celled, 4-sulcate; cells 2-8-ovuled; style 

 short, stigma discoid. Fruit capsular, irregularly globose, large, 6-12- 

 seeded; pericarp fleshy dehiscing by 4 valves opposite the obliterated 



