THESPESIA POPULNEA. (Nat. order Malvaceee.) 



TflESPESIA. Corr. Gen. PI. 1. 208.— G-EN. CHAR. Bractlets 3-8 small or deciduous, calyx minutely 5 dentate, rarely 5 cleft, column 

 toothed at the apex ; ovary 5-celled, each cell with a few ovules, styles club-shaped with 5 grooves, capsule woody coriaceous opening loculicidally or al- 

 most indehiscent, seeds obovoid glabrous or tomentose, cotyledons much folded enclosing the radicle often marked with small Mack dots. Trees or shrubs, 

 leaves entire or lobed, flowers yellow ; this genus is distinguished from Hibiscus by its confluent stigmas, more woody capsule and obovoid compressed seeds. 



IHESPESIA POPULNEA. (Cav.) A tree, young branches as well as the petioles, pedicels and calyx covered with small 

 peltate scales, leaves long petioled cordate ovate acuminate, 7 nerved, smooth leathery entire or sinuous, stipules falcate, flowers solitary, 

 axillary stalked, peduncles shorter than the petiole, epicalyx of 5 oblongo-lanceolate deciduous segments as long as or longer than the 

 cup-shaped entire or slightly 5 lobed calyx, corol nearly 2 inches in length 4 times exceeding the calyx, fruit roundish depressed slightly 

 beaked 5 celled indehiscent or opening to a slight extent at the top, seeds 2 in each cell of the fruit large compressed laterally near 

 the hilum, roundish above, testa pubescent nervoso-striate. Be, 1, 456. Hibiscus populneus, Linn. Sp. 976. 



A handsome tree when in flower and of very rapid growth ; it rarely exceeds 1 5 or 20 feet in height, or a circumference of 6 feet ; it is 

 abundant throughout India and in Ceylon as an avenue or cultivated tree, particular near the coast, but I have never seen it in forests ; it is very 

 generally known by its Hindustani name of Pdras pipal, and is ailed Pursa and Poorsung in Tamil, and the Portia tree by Europeans, and in 

 Ceylon its native name is Sooreya. The tree grows very readily from cuttings ; any large boughs stuck into the ground rooting readily, but these trees 

 have always the heart wood tery unsound, and are only fit for fuel, and besides have a gnarled and ugly appearance ; handsome trees are grown from 

 seedlings, and their timber is highly prized, it is strong, straight, even grained and durable, of a pale reddish color fading to reddish brown, and is 

 easily worked. A cubic foot unseasoned weighs 59 to 62 lbs., and seasoned 49 lbs., and the specific gravity is "784; it is much used for gun stocks and 

 also for furniture, boat timbers, naves, felloes, pannels of carriages and cart framing, &c. ; the capsules yield a yellow dye which is used as a wash 

 for cutaneous diseases, as is also the bark boiled in water, and the latter is given internally as am, alterative. 



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