SAPINDUS EMARGINATUS. (Nat. order Sapindacese.) 



SaPINDUS, linn. — GEN. CHAR. Flowers polygamous, regular, sepals 4-5, bieeriate, broadly imbricated, petals 4-5, scaleless or furnished 

 with 1 or 2 scales above the claw, disk complete, annular, stamens usually 8-10, centrical, the filaments usually pilose, anthers versatile, ovary entire 

 or 2-4 lobed 2-4 celled, style terminal, stigma 2-4 lobed, ovules solitary in the cells, ascending from the interior angle at the base, fruit fleshy or 

 coriaceous, usually with 1-2 cocci, which are oblong or globose, and indehiscent. Seeds usually globose, exarillate, with a crustaceous or membranous 

 testa. Embryo straight or curved, the cotyledons thick, the radicle incurved. Trees. — Aphania, Blume. Dydimococcus, Bhime. 



SAPINDUS EMARGINATUS. (Vahl.) A middling sized tree with a short trunk and a very large dense spreading 

 head and a deep green foliage, leaves alternate abruptly pinnate 6-8 inches long, petiole terete pubescent on the upper side, leaflets 

 2-3 opposite or subopposite pair, oblong entire with a rounded emarginate apex, prominently reticulated particularly beneath, shining 

 above and glabrous on both sides or downy beneath, 4-5 inches long by 1J-2 broad, petiolules 2-3 lines long slightly pubescent, 

 panicles terminal much branched, flowers small whitish inodorous, bractes small caducous, sepals and petals 5 the latter hairy on the 

 outside and furnished with 2 inflected woolly scales about the middle, or the scales are absent and the hairs only present, filaments 8, 

 alternately a little shorter in the male flowers, fruit with 3 rarely 4 cocci, smooth at firs- but wrinkled in age, seeds dark colored size 

 of a large pea and very hard- Roxb. Fl. Ind. ii. 279; — Vahl. Symb. 3. 54; — Wight III. t. 51. 



The specimen figured is from the Anamallay forests, and having only male flowers, I have taken the drawing of the fertile 

 flower and fruit from Dr. Wight's plate in his Illustrations. 



A handsome tree common in many forests in the plains and subalpine regions of this Presidency and in Mysore, Bombay, Bengal 

 Birrnah and Ceylon, it is called Retha in Hindustani, Eonhudu in Teligoo, Puvandi and Ponnanga in Tamil, Puvella in Singhalese and Haik- 

 hhyae in Birmese ; the berries are saponaceous end are used'jirith the other species as i oap by the natives, and all the species are called soop nut trees 

 by Europeans ; the root, bark and fruit are used medicinally by the natives and are said to have virtue in epilepsy, and an oil is extracted from the 

 nut ; the wood is occasionally used by the natives for ordinary purposes, such as posts, door frames, and the construction of carts ; it is pals 

 yellowish, close ai, d prettily grained, hard, but not durable, ind cracks if exposed, and is said not to work easily ; unseasoned it weighs 75 to 80 lbs, 

 the cubic foot, and 64 lbs. when seasoned ; its specific gravity is - 928. Sapindus detergens, Roxb, a Bengal tree, is probably not specifically distinct 

 from this species. 



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