Mtsoue and oooro. 60^ 



January, and is usually quite bare during tlie months 

 of February and Maroli, after which it sends forth, 

 some days in adyance of the young leaves, a very 

 profuse crop of sweetly fragrant flowers of a lightish 

 or rosy -purple colour, having a pale or yellowish 

 throat. A peculiarity of the flower is, that it retains 

 its fragrance for some days after it is faded, and is 

 consequently much valued ^for making 'garlands, 

 especially by the Muhammadan people. Capsule 

 12 — 15 in. stout, rough, copiously marked by 

 whitish tubercles and slightly 4-ribbed ; seed em- 

 bedded in notches of the septum, deeply notched 

 at the middle. In Malabar and the Concan, 

 the tender flowers and fruit are esteemed as vege- 

 tables. Bees are passionately fond of the honey 

 contained in the nectary of this flower, and are 

 supposed to prefer it to any other. Medicinal 

 properties are attributed to the root, leaves, and 

 flowers ; and as the vernacular name — priest tree — 

 implies, <the species is held in some veneration 

 by the people of the country. Wood orange- 

 yellow, to reddish brown in the centre, said to 

 be elastic and diu-able, used in Assam for making 

 tea-boxes, Large trunks are also hollowed out as 

 canoes in the north of India. The species is often 

 confounded with S. chelonoides, on which account it 

 is very desirable that the description, quality, and 

 local utility of both timbers, should be thoroughly 

 worked out in the field. To enable forest oflScials 

 to do this effectively, they should first identify their 

 trees either by submitting botanical specimens to a 

 competent botanist, to be named and returned, or, 

 by studying the descriptions of Hooker and Brandis 

 on the spot. This is all the more necessary as it is 

 believed that the State forests contain one or two 

 distinct forms of the two species here referred to. 



Cultivation.— Virgin forest soil is undoubtedly the 

 most suitable for this tree, but it also grows well in 



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