FERONIA ELEPHANTUM. (Nat. order Butaces.) 



FERONIA. Correct. — GEN\ CHAR. Flowers polygamous by abortion, calyx small 5 toothed, teeth deciduous, petals 5 rarely 4-6 patent 

 c-blongo-lanceolate imbricate with incurved tips, stameu3 10-12 (sometimes a few imperfect ?) filaments dilated at the base, apieulate at the apex, inserted 

 below the torus, anthers linear-oblong, torus a short soft woolly bed, style none, stigma large oblong 5 lobed, ovary oblong 1 celled, placentas 5-6 parietal, 

 ovules numerous crowded in many series, berry globose woody 1 celled, many seeded, filled with pulp, seed oblong compressed, cotyledons thick fleshy. A 

 thorny tree, leaves unequally pinnate, flowers racemose or panicled ; fruit large woody, pulp edible. 



FeRONIA ELEPHANTUM. (Corr.) A large tree, leaves unequally pinnate 2-4 inches long quite glabrous, leaflets 5-7 

 almost sessile lanceolate to obovate quite entire or slightly erenulate towards the apex, furnished with glandular dots, petioles slightly 

 winged, panicles short axillary or terminal or from nodes in the old axils, puberulous, flowers small dull reddish colored, petals ciliate 

 at the apex, in the male flower there is a small abortive ovary and 5 lobed stigma and generally 11-12 fertile stamens, in the herma- 

 throdite the stamens are fertile generally 10, the filaments in the male are rather shorter and less apieulate than in the hermathrodite, 

 (I have never observed imperfect stamens in either sex.) Fruit as large as a billiard ball, hard and woody with a greyish rind, seeds 

 immersed in fleshy edible pulp. DC. Prod. Vol. i. 538. 



This tree is common throughout India and in Ceylon, it is universally known as the Wood-apple, in Teligu it is called Velagd and 

 Eldkd ; Kaweet in Hindustanee ; Veld in Tamil ; Bilwdr in Canarese ; and Diwool in Ceylon : the loood is hard, strong, heavy and durable, 

 and is used for various purposes. A gum exudes from the trunk, which is much like the gum Arabic, the pulp of the fruit makes a pleasant 

 jelly, and the leaves are used medicinally by the natives. The tree flowers in February and March, it is much cultivated throughout India, it is 

 the only species of this genus. 



Fig. i. fertile flowers. 

 Fig. ii. male flowers. 



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