PODOCARPUS LATIFOLIA. (Nat. order Coniferae.) 



PoDOCARPUS, L'Hcrit.— GEN. CHAR. Flowers dioecious or rarely monoecious. Male, aments axillary or terminal solitary op fascicled 

 on a common peduncle bracteated at the base or naked, eylindric obtuse thick or slender, anther-bearing bracts numerous crowded very shortly stipitate, 

 anthers two 1 -celled, cells subglobose dehiscing extrorsely. Female, flowers spicate, the spike generally short rarely lax 1-2 flowered, the rachis naked 

 or furnished with several bracts, the terminal one involucriform large subdenticulate and partially enclosing the flower or young fruit, fruit fleshy oval or 

 globose, nut bony, embryo in the axis of farinaceous albumen. Evergreen trees or shrubs, leaves coriaceous either opposite or subopposite and then 

 many-nerved, ovate or elliptic, or approximated or crowded 1-nerved lanceolate or linear, sometimes dimorphous. 



PODOCARPUS LATIFOLIA. (Wall.) A tall erect tree 40-50 feet high with a straight trunk, up to 4-5 feet in girth, 

 disecious, branches horizontal spreading, young ones angled, leaves opposite or subopposite thick and very coriaceous dark shining 

 green, many-nerved, from ovate to elliptic or narrow lanceolate acute or mucronate narrowed at the base into a short dilated flat 

 petiole, 2£-5 inches long by f-lj broad, petiole none except the short dilated base of the leaf, male aments bracteated at the base, 

 4-5 lines long thick obtuse axillary solitary or 2-3 on a very short peduncle, the antheriferous bracts ovate acuminate denticulate as 

 are the lower bracts, anthers oblong, female peduncle about 6 lines long furnished with several bracts below and one large terminal 

 one embracing the ovary or female flower, ovary glaucous, fruit globosely oval about 1 inch long by 9-10 lines in diameter, the 

 receptacle often becoming fleshy and much enlarged. Wall. PI. As, rar. 1. p. 26. tab. 30. 



This is an exceedingly interesting discovery on the South Tinnevelly mountains, being the first Conifer detected in Southern India, and 

 the order is not represented in Ceylon. It is a very handsome tree and exceedingly ornamental when only a few feet in height, and well worth 

 cultivating ; if the species is really the latifolia of Wallich (and dried specimens mere so named at Kew), the tree also inhabits the Ehasya "moun- 

 tains in Bengal, and is found in Eurmah. All the trees I examined were dixcious, and it does not quite answer to the description of latifolia {in 

 DC. Prod.) ; it flowers in August and September and ripens its fruit in January and February ; the tree is most abundant where I first discovered 

 it on the hills above Calcad in the dense moist forests 3000-EOOO feet elevation, where its native name is Neerambali (nerve tree). I have not myself 

 seen it further north, but Mr. Eayne of the Forest Department informs me that he has lately delected it to the north of Courtallum. The timber ap- 

 pears to be very good, and a log of it was sent to England ( to the reporter on Indian Indents) not long ago. 



A nalysis. 



1. The male inflorescence (life size.) 



2. The female inflorescence (life size,) 



3. Male inflorescence, much magnified. 



4. Female inflorescence, much magnified. 



5. The anther-bearing bracts, front and back view. 

 6. Young fruit. 



7. Ripe fruit showing the fleshy receptacle on which it is sometimes seated. 



8. Fruit cut transversely. 



9. Seed cut vertically showing the embryo in the axis of fleshy albumen. 



10. E mbrjo removed, 2 cotyledons and a long inferior radicle. (Drawn from living specimens,) 



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