XYLOPIA PARVIFOLIA. (Nat. order Anonacese.) 



For Gen. Char, see Manual, p. ix. 



XYLOPIA PARVIFOLIA (Hook. fil. et T.) A very lofty straight tree, 60—80 or even 100 feet to the first bough, and 

 then forming a small dense head, trunk of no graat thickness, 4-6 feet in girth, always famished with considerable buttresses at the 

 base, which extend up the trank 6-10 feet from the ground, young branches slightly puberulous, leaves elliptic oblong with a short 

 acuminatiou, slightly coriaceous shining and glabrous above except the costa, slightly glaucous and glabrous beneath except the costa, 

 about 3 inches long by 1-1 ^ broad, petioles puberulou3 3.-4 lines long, inflorescence axillary pubescent, peduncle very short 3-flowered, 

 pedicels scarcely more than 1 line long bibracteolate at the apex below the calyx, calyx small cup-shaped 3-toothed, exterior petals 

 thick about 9 lines long, interior a little shorter triquetrous except at the hollow base, torus conical, ovaries 3-4 (5-6 Ceylon speci- 

 mens) densely strigose hid in the torus, style long glabrous, stigma very large slightly hairy, connective of the anthers truncate capitate, 

 ovules 4. 



Thislofty straight tree is abundan'. in the moist Jorests about the foot of the Truvancore ghdis in, the vicinity of Colaloorpalay, when 

 1 discovered it in flower this August ; it is the first lime the genu's has been observed on the continent ; it also inhabits the south of Ceylon, and 

 is mentioned in the Manual atpige ix. as a Ceylon trei. I havt carefully cympared the Tsavamcore specimens tiith dried specimens of the Ceylon 

 plant, and 1 can detect no difference, though the latter is described as a small tree or shrub. Dr. Thwaites says that the flowers and bark are used 

 by the Cinghalese for chewing with their betel. 



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