BASSIA LONGIPOLIA. (Nat. ord. Sapotaceje.) 



For Gen. Char, see under " Bassia latifolia." 



JDASSIA LONGIFOLIA. (Linn.) A good sized tree, trunk pretty straight but short, branches numerous, dividing much 

 and spreading, forming a shady head, young shoots downy ; leaves crowded, about the ends of the branchlets lanceolate entire smooth 

 4-7 inches long by 1-1 J broad, petioles 1-2 inches long round slightly villous, stipules ensiform downy very early caducous, peduncles 

 crowded round the base of the young shoots 2-3 inches long drooping 1 flowered ; calyx divisions 4 acute, corol tube length of the 

 calyx gibbous thick and fleshy, limb 8-10 cleft segments sublanceolate, anthers 16-20 in 2 rows, one above the other attached to the 

 inside of the tube, filaments scarcely any, ovary 6-8 celled with one ovule in each cell attached to nearly the top of the axis ; style 

 twice as long as the corol, stigma minute, contracted 3 berry oblong, size of a plum, villous pulpy when ripe yellowish. Eoxb. Fl. 

 Ind. ii. p. 523. ffi&$?Q %'V/Zt A )>■ . 



This is a common tree throughout the Madras Presidency, Mysore, Bombay, Bengal and Ceylon, but not found at any great elevation ; it 

 is very much cultivated in topes and elsewhere on account of its oil. It attains to 50 feet in height and a maximum girth of about 6 feet, the timber 

 is heavy close and straight-grained, very flexible and durable, scarcely inferior to Teak in strength, and of a yellowish brown color. A cubic foot 

 unseasoned weighs 70 to 75 lbs. and when seasoned 60 lbs. Its specific gravity is '960; it is valued for heels of ships and for planking below the water 

 line and makes good trenails, it is also used in the construction of carts when great strength is required, and for furniture, and in Ceylon for 

 bridges. The oil pressed from the ripe fruit is used by the poorer natives as lamp-oil, and for cooking purposes, and cakes are made of it, and it is 

 also used medicinally. The gummy juice which abounds in the bark and young fruit is also used medicinaUy as are Ike leaves and lark, and the 

 oil is used in making soap in India, and in the manufacture of candles in England. Its price is about 3| Rs. per maund. The tree flowers in the 

 hot weather, and the flowers are dried in the sun and roasted and eaten by the poorer classes, they are also eaten by animals and birds. I have 

 an allied species from South Canara (banks of rivers), luhich is called Nanil, in character it is intermediate between this species and elliptiea, 







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