HARDWICKIA P1NNATA. (Nat. order LeguminoBse.) 



For Gen. Char, see letter-press to PI. xxvi. 



HARDWICKIA PINNATA. (Roxb.) A very large tree, leaves pinnate 4-8 inches long, leaflets coriaceous 5-6 alternate 

 glabrous and shining, ovate or obliquely ovate to ovato-lanceolate bluntly pointed, variable in size up to 4| inches long by 1| broad, 

 pinnately veined aud the veins looped near the margin, veinlets beautifully reticulated, generally minutely dotted on the underside 

 (under the lens), petiolules 2-3 lines long, stipules minute ovate-lanceolate early deciduous, pauicles terminal slender shorter than 

 the leaves with 3-5 racemose branches, flowers minute on pedicels about |- a line long with a bract at the base of each, calyx closely 

 pressed by 2 scale-like bracteoles, 5-parted, segments imbricate the three outer longer than the 2 inner all ciliate and conspicuously 

 pellucid dotted, anthers 10 all fertile attached to the filament by the centre of the back, filaments slender nearly double as long as the 

 calyx, hairy at the base equal or subequal in length or alternately a little shorter, ovary and style hairy the latter slightly longer 

 than the filaments, stigma small capitate peltate, ovule solitary pendulous from near the apex of the cell, legume iudehiscent obovate 

 coriaceous or almost woody, 2-2| inches long by 1 inch broad, sometimes compressed at the base below the seed and wing-like and 

 often with a small recurved mucro at the apex, seed pendulous from the apex, testa brown membranaceous, cotyledons replete with 

 cells filled with balsam, the radicle and plumule protruding from the apex of the legume, lloxb.. Fl. Lid. ii. 425. 



This tree is very common on the S. Travancore ghats (Asamboo hills) in the dense moist forests up to 3000 feet elevation, ayid 

 I have also found it on the Tinnevelly side just above Courlullum (between the 2nd and 3rd falls) and on the new Manjerabad ghat (S. Canara), 

 about 1500 feet up from, Siradi. The tree yields a dark red balsam almost exactly like the balsam of Copaiva, and with all the same properties ; 

 the tree is called in Travancore Matayen Samprdni ( which means fvoVs incense), and the balsam is extracted and used medicinally : to obtain 

 it a deep notch is made into the heart of the tree, and after a time it begins to flow ; the tree flowers in March and April, and the legumes ripen 

 in July. The viood is much used by the coffee planters and others for building purposes. 



The following is Mr, Broughton's report upon some of the balsam which I submitted to him for analysis. 



This substance appears on examination to consist of a solution of certain chemically different resins in an essential oil, and is in 

 fact an Oleo-resin. Z'he the wood oils from the different species of Bipterocarpus, it greatly resembles both in composition and properties the 

 Copaiva balsam, though it lacks the transparency and light yellow color of the latter. It is nearly entirely soluble in Ammonia but does not 

 produce a clear solution. The essential oil has the same composition as that from Copaiva balsam. It boils (on the Neilgherries) at a tempe- 

 rature of 225° C. It rotates the plane of polarization to the left, but in a different degree to that found with the oil from Copaiva. This 

 essential oil occurs in different amounts in the balsam, and more abundantly in the fresher collected specimens, these are quite fluid, but other 

 specimens are almost semi-solid, doubtless owing to the evaporation and oxidation of the oil. The oil is best obtained by prolonged distillation 

 of the balsam with water. By this means I have obtained from an apparently old specimen of balsam 25 per cent of oil, and in the most 

 recently collected specimen I have obtained over 40 per cent. I have made many attempts, but have not obtained any crystals of Copaicic acid 

 from the balsam. The solid resins are of an acid character, but the balsam doss not solidify so strongly as that of Copaiva after being heated 

 with Magnesia. The oil can be separated from the balsam by Ader's process, but it is obtained in a very impure and colored slate. There 

 appears little doubt that this balsam could effectually substitute Copaiva balsam in medicine. But the appearance of the specimens that 

 I have received is greatly inferior to the latter, and they could not certainly under present circumstances compete with the Brazilian balsam in 

 the European markets. Whether the essential oil obtained from the balsam could be profitably manufactured and exported 1 am unable to 

 say, as I am not acquainted with the cost of the balsam in Travancore. This balsam is well worthy of being tried in medicine, since from its 

 composition it appears to be well suited for employment, at least in the neighbourhood of the country in which it is collected. 



Analysis. 



1. A flower bud showing the bract at base of pedicel and 2 scale like bracteoles at base of calyx. 



2. A full flower. 



3. Calyx opened. 



4. Ovary aud disk, showing insertion of stamens. 



5. Anthers, front and back view. 



6. Ovary cut vertically, 1 pendulous ovule, style and stigma. 



7. Ovary cut transversely. 



8. Ripe legume cut open, showing the pendulous seed nearly tilling the whole cavity. 



9. A legume germiuatiug, the long radicle aud plumule protruding from its apex. 

 10. Germinating seed removed from the same. (Drawn from specimens in spirit.) 



255 



