SARACA INDICA. (Nat. ovd. Leguminosse, Sub-ord. Csesalpiniesa, Tribe Amberstese.) 



OARACA. (Liun.) Gen. PL 1. 583.— GEN. CHAR. Calyx furnished at the base with 2 opposite bracteoles, tube lined with a disk elongate, 

 segments 4-5 petaloid, ovate subequal imbricate, petals none, stamens 3-9 rising from the crenulated ring-like apex of the disk, free, filaments elongate 

 authers oblong, cells dehiscing longitudinally : ovary stipitate, the stalk below cohering to one side of the calyx tube free above, style filiform, stigma ter- 

 minal obiuse, ovules 8-12, legume oblong or elongate compressed or a little turgid 2 valved 4-8 seeded, seed exarillate, albumen none. Trees unarmed 

 leaves abruptly pinnate, leaflets few paired, stipules intra-foliaceous caducous, racemes pauicled. (Jonesia. Roxb.) 



feARACA INDICA. (Lirm ) A middling sized ramous tree, trunk erect though, not very straight, bark dark brown, pretty 

 smooth, branches numerous, spreading in every direction and forming au elegant and shady head, leaves alternate abruptly pinnate, 

 sessile 10-15 inches long, when young pendulous and colored, Leaflets opposite 4-6 pair, lanceolate 4-6 inches long by 1-1| broad, smooth 

 shining and firm in texture with the margins often a little waved, stipules intra-foliaceous, caducous, panicles short axillary and terminal nearly 

 globular, large and crowded with flowers, bracts small cordate, flowers pretty large, when first expanding of a bright orange color, chang- 

 ing to red, fragrant at night, calyx funnel shaped, furnished at the base with 2 nearly opposite colored cordate bracts, tube of the calyx slightly 

 incurved firm and fleshy, lined with a disk, divisions of the calyx 4 rarely 5, spreading petaloid ovate subequal, imbricate, one third the 

 length of the tube, corol none, stamens 7, rarely 8-9 rising from the creuulated ring-like apex of the disk, filaments equal free, 3 or 4 

 times longer than the divisions of the calyx, ovary stipitate, the stalk below cohering to one side of the calyx tube, style nearly as long as 

 the stamens, stigma single, legume scimitar shaped turgid on the outside, reticulated 6 to 10 inches long and about 2 broad, seed 4-8 

 smooth. Linn. Mant. p. 98. Rheed. Mai. v. p. 59. Jonesia Asoca, Roxb. Fl. Ind.'xi. p. 218. Saraca arborescens, Burm. Ind, p. 85. 

 4.25./. 2. Saraca pinnata, WilU- Sp. ii.p. 287. 



This exceedingly handsome tree is indigenous up to an elevtiion of 3,000 feit in the forests of .?. Canara, the Concan, Mysore, Gumsur, 

 Cuttack, Eastern Bengal and Ceylon, and is cultivated in gardens at Madras and aH over India ; its bright orange flowers and pendulous colored 

 young leaves make it very showy when in flower. It is exiled Asok or Asoka in Bengal, Ashunkar in S. Canara, Jassoondie in the Concan, and 

 Deya-ratmal in Ceylon ; it flowers daring the hot season, and its seel ripens in the rains. I know nothing i>f its timber, and am. not aware that it 

 has ever been tried ; as a shade yielding ornamental tree it scarcely has an equal ; it is mucli better known under Roxburgh's name of Jonesia than 

 under the old Linnean name of Saraca, but the latter has priority and is now adopted. 



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