MANGIFERA INDICA. (Nat. ord. Anacardiacese.) 



MANGIFERA, Linn.— GEN. CHAR. Flowers polygamous or diajcious, calyx 4-5 partite imbricate deciduous, petals 4-5 imbricate inserted, 

 below the disk furnished on the inside with a lobed glandular scale or crest, stamens arising from the disk 1 (or rarely 2) fertile with a subulate fleshy 

 filament about as long as the style, 3-4 (or rarely more) sterile slender minute tipped with a gland, disk thick fleshy 4-5 lobed, ovary free or its base 

 immersed in the disk, sessile fleshy oblique, 1-celled 1-ovuled, ovule ascending from the side a little above the base, style lateral, stigma simple, drupe 

 generally subreniform ovoid or globose but very variable in shape and size fleshy, putamen woody fibrous indehiscent or 2 valved, seed compressed, 

 cotyledons plano-convex, thick fleshy often lobed, radicle inferior ascending. Trees, leaves alternate petioled simple entire coriaceous, panicles terminal 

 branched bracteated, flowers small. 



MaNGIFEKA INDICA. (Linn.) A large tree up to 15 feet in girth, with an erect trunk covered with dark colored 

 scabrous cracked bark, branches very numerous, leaves generally about the extremities of the branches lanceolate, often more or less 

 waved at the margin, acute or acuminate, coriaceous glabrous and shining, 6-12 inches long by 1-2|- inches broad, petioles |-2 inches 

 long, panicles terminal always much branched often very compound puberulous or glabrous, flowers small yellowish with stripes of red 

 near the base of the petals, male and hermathrodite mixed in the same panicle, calyx segments 5 oblong concave, petals 5 lanceolate 

 twice as long as the calyx, disk of 5 large yellow fleshy lobes surrounding the base of the ovary, each lobe as large as the ovary, fertile 

 anther purple, sterile filaments 2-3-4 or more. Linn; — Willd. Sp. 1. 1150. 



This is the well known Mango tree; it grows to an immense size in all our mountain forests up to 4000 feet elevation, generally in ravines 

 and on the banks of streams ; the tree is most variable in the length and breadth of Us leaves and form of its panicles, and the cultivated varie- 

 ties differ wonderfully in the shape and size of the fruit, the tree generally flowers during the first 3 months of the year, and the fruit ripens during 

 the next three ; the wood is coarse and open grained, of a dull grey color, not durable, and soon attached by insects ; a cubic foot unseasoned weighs 

 52-58 lbs, and when seasoned 42 lbs, and the specific gravity is -672 ; it is much in use for coffee cases, &c. and for planks ; and the natives use it 

 for building purposes; a gum exudes from the trunk. 'The tree is cultivated throughout tropical Asia, but really good Jruit is seldom found except 

 on grafted trees. It is called *A>n in Hindustani, Mad in Tamil, Mmnadi in Teligu, and Atlamba and Amba in Ceylon. 



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