MASTTXIA ARBOREA. (Nat. order Cornacese.) 



MASTIXIA. Bl —Flowers hermathrodite. Calyx-tuba campauulate, limb dilated 4-5 toothed, petals 4-5 ovate coriaceous valvate, apex 

 indexed fimbriate or toothed, stamens 4-5 alternate with the petals and inserted under the margin o£ the disk, filaments short compressed, anthers cordate, 

 disk large fleshy, ovary iuferior 1 celled. Style short thick, stigma punctiform, ovule 1 pendulous from the apex or near the apex o£ the cell. Drupe 

 ovoid subglobose or oblong, umbilicate at the apex, sarcocarp fleshy green, putaman woody very hard deeply channelled on one side and there furnished 

 with a hard woody process which intrudes into the albumen and nearly divides the cell into 2 compartments, seed conforming to the cell, testa membran- 

 aceous, albumen copious fleshy, embryo with thin membranaceous ovate foliaceons cotyledons and a very long superior cylindrical radicle. Trees, gla- 

 brous, branches terete, leaves simple entire oblong (turuing black in drying, at least on the upper side) alternate in the Indian spacie3, opposite in some 

 Java ones; flowers inconspicuous in terminal miuy fljwered panicles. SI. Bijd. 654; — Mas. Bjt, Lttgd, Bzt. i, 255. t. 58. Bursiuopetalum, Wight 

 Icones tab. 956. 



MASTIXIA ARBOREA. (Wight.) A very large tree, leaves vary dark green glabrous coriaceous oblong obtuse or acute 

 or with a sudden rather long acumlnatlon, 2-9 inches long by l-|-4 inches broad, petiole -| -2 inches long, flowers tetranierous or pen- 

 tamerous, calyx and corol slightly pubescent, fruit oblong size of a large olive the apes marked with a large scar where the flower has 

 separated. — Bursinopetalum arboreuni, Wight Icones tab- 956- B. fcetraadrutn, Wight MS5- ; — Thio- En. PI. Zey. p. 42. 



This tree is very abundant in our dense Western ghat moist forests from Canard downwards to Cape Comorin, a! elevations from 

 2000 to 7000 feet, and it is also found in Ceylon; it is most abuniant i'l the Bolamputty forests at 2500 feet elevation, and is common on the 

 Nilgiris at 6000-7000 feet, at the higher elevation it is not nearly such a large tree but its leaves are mush larger and more coriaceous and its 

 flowers are larger. The tetramerous form is certainly not a distinct species, as both forms occur on one and the same tree. Nothing is known of 

 its timber or uses, but the former is probably good. 



1. A flower bud. 



2. A full flower, side view. 



3. The same front view, showing the large disk and the stamens . 



4. A petal. 



5. A flower cut vertically, showing the insertion of the stamens below the disk, and the ovule pendulous from the apex of the 



cell. 



6. Anthers, front and back view. 



7. Diagram of the parts of the flower. 



8. Very young fruit cut vertically. 



9. Ripe fruit. 



10. The same, part of the fleshy sarcocarp removed to show the hard bony putamen. 



11. Fruit or drupe cut transversely showing the copious fleshy albumen into one side of which the hard woody process from the 



putamen is seen intruding and nearly dividing it into 2. 



12. Embryo showing the long cylindric radicle and leafy cotyledons. (All drawn from fresh specimens.) 



216 



