SPONDIAS MANGIFERA. (Nat. order Anacardiacefe.) 



SPONDIAS. Linn. — GEN. CHAR. Flowers polygamous. Calyx small, 4or5-lobed or divided to the base. Petals 4 or 5, spreading, 

 almost valvate in the bud. Disk orbicular, crenate, stamens twice as many as petals, inserted round the disk. Ovary 3 to 6-celled, with as many short 

 conical eonnivent styles ; ovules solitary in each cell, pendulous. Drupe with a fleshy epicarp, the putamen hard and bony, the cells erect or vertically 

 curved and diverging at the top, the putamen pierced with a foramen corresponding to the apex of each cell. Seeds solitary in each cell pendulous ; testa 

 membranous ; embryo straight or slightly curved with the seed ; cotyledons oblong, radicle superior. Trees, leaves crowded at the ends of the branches, 

 pinnate ; flowers small, iu terminal or axillary panicles. — Evia, Gomni. Cytherea, WA. Poupartia, Comm. 



SPONDIAS MANGIFEEA. (Pers.) A large tree, trunk straight, bark smooth ash-colored astringent, leaves alternate 

 about the ends of the branches, pinnate with an odd one 12-20 inches long, petiole terete, leaflets 4>5 pair opposite or subopposite 

 ovate to elliptic-oblong rather abruptly acuminate oblique at the base quite entire glabrous prominently veined, 3-6 inches long by 

 2-2| broad, panicles terminal large diffuse, flowers numerous small white often barren, disk large fleshy crenate, anthers alternately 

 shorter incurved about h as long as the petals, styles 5-6, ovary 5-6 celled, drupe oval or nearly round yellow when ripe about 1£ inch 

 across, Jioxb. Fl. Ind. ii. 451. Evia amara, Commers. Ambalam, Rlieede Mai. 1. p. S9. t. 50. 



This is a common tree in jungles throughout this Presidency, and in Ceylon it ascends the mountains to about 3500 feet ; it is known to 

 Europeans as the Hog plum, and is called dmrd in Hindustani, Eat mda in Tamil, and Aravi mdmadi in Teligoo (names signifying wild 

 mango) ; its fruit is eaten raw when rife, and unripe it is pickled and preserved, and eaten in curries ; the wood is soft and of little or no value, 

 and a gum much like Gum Arabic exudes from the trunk ; the leaves are agreeably acid. In the Ana?nallays it is called Puli ille by the Eaders. 



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