BACCAUREA SAPIDA. (Nat. order Euphorbiacese.) 



BaCCAUREA. Lour. — GEN. CHAR. Disecioua or rarely monsecious. Calyx 4-6 rarely 7-8-parted, segments sometimes unequal imbricate 

 in aestivation, petals 0, disk present or wanting or rudimentary, Male, stamens 410, filaments free inserted round the lobed or disk-like rudiment of an 

 ovary, anthers 2-celled introrse or rarely extrorse. Female, ovary 2-5 celled, cells 2-ovuled, stigmas subsessile broad 2-3-lobed or lacerate more or less 

 papillose, fruit indehiscent semicarnose 1-5-celled, cells 1-2-seeded, seed arillate albuminous, cotyledons ovate 3-nerved, radicle short. Trees, leaves alternate 

 opposite or subopposite petioled, bistipulate simple penniveined elliptic entire or subdentate, inflorescence racemed or in spike like panicles generally densely 

 clustered together on the trunk or older boughs, rarely axillary. Lour Flor. Cockinch. eel. Willd- v, 2 p. 813. Pierardia, Eoxb. Fl- Ind. ii. 254. Mierosepala, 

 Miq. Fl. Ind. Bat. Suppl. p. 444. Hedycarpus, Miq. Fl. Ind- Bat. vol. 1 part 2 p. 359. Adenocrepis, Bl. Bijd. p. 579. Caliptroon, Miq. Fl. Ind. Bat. 

 Supp. i. 471. 



Section Pierardia. — Disk suppressed or only rudimentary, stamens 4-10, anthers introrse, ovary 3-2-celled. 



.BaCCAUEEA SAPIDA. (Eoxb.) A middling sized tree, young parts minutely pubescent, leaves glabrous elliptic with a 

 short blunt acumination entire or sometimes slightly scolloped, 3-8 inches long by 1| to 2£ broad, petioles 6-18 lines long, stipules 

 ovate deciduous. Male, flowers very small reddish scarcely 1 line long, spites puberulous 7-10 inches long generally much crowded 

 on the trunk sometimes almost as dense as a bottle brush, rarely on the branches, paniculate or racemose, the pedicels scarcely £ a 

 line long crowded in little heads of 3-7 together with or without a short peduncle and with an ovate concave bract at the base, 

 calyx puberulous 4-5 rarely 6-parted, segments equal incurved at the apex, stamens 5-10 (generally 7-8 in the 4-sepaled flowers 

 and 5 in the 5-sepaled ones), rudiment of ovary entire discoid or 2-5 lobed. Female, flowers about double as large as the male, in 

 simple puberulous racemes which are 8-12 inches long, pedicels 1-1£ lines long irregularly arranged along the rachis alternate ox 

 opposite and distant or rather crowded each with a minute ovate bract at the base, calyx puberulous generally 5-parted sometimes 

 6-7-8-parted, segments generally very unequal, disk wanting, ovary very hairy ovate truncate at the apex 3-celled, ovules pendul- 

 ous, stigma sessile 3-lobed, fruit subglobose 1 inch or a little more in diameter, the rind rough but without any hairs marked with 3 

 prominent ridges running from the apex to the base, bright crimson when ripe, seeds 1 -2 only from abortion each enclosed in a 

 succulent acid edible aril, — Pierardia sapida, Roxl. Fl. Ind. ii. 254. P. maerostachys et Courtallensis, Wight's Icones 1912-13. 

 Baccaurea sapida et Courtallensis, DC. Prod. xv. p. 459. 



This tree is most abundant in all our moist ghat forests from Canara down to S. Travancore up to 3500 feet elevation, and 1 have 

 copious specimens from all parts; the leaves are alternate and opposite on the same tree and a single spike of dowers xoill often shovi all the varia- 

 tions in the perianth and number of stamens, and there can be no doubt that Wight's 2 species belong to the same tree, and are not even varieties. 

 I have not seen Roxburgh's tree, but his description answers very fairly for this species except that the fruit is described as yellow; the fruit {or 

 rather the aril of the seed) is a very pleasant acid, it generally hangs in great profusion from the trunks, the whole trunk appearing as a crimson 

 mass. The tree is also found on the mountains in East Bengal and Birmah, but does not 1 believe occur in Ceylon ; the timber is hard and heavy, 

 but 1 have never known it in use, but then (as is the case with most of our moist forest trees) it only grows in localities overstocked with many well 

 knoivn timbers, so that it never receives the chance of a trial. In Birmah it is used, I believe, for wheel-axles. In South Canara the tree is called 

 Koli kukee (Canarese.) 



Analysis. 



1. Male inflorescence. 



2. Portion of the panicle magnified, the pedicels sometimes sessile in a crowded head (racemose), sometimes with a common 



peduncle (paniculate). 



3. A male flower bud. 



4. A male flower open, 4 imbricate sepals, 7 stamens, disk none or almost obsolete, rudiment of ovary 4-lobed. 



5. A male flower showing 5 sepals and 5 stamens, rudiment of ovary sub 5-lobed, 



6. Anthers, front and back view. 



7. The bract present at the base of each of the heads of male flowers. 

 S. Female inflorescence. 



9. Female flowers, sepals imbricate often very unequal. 



10. A 6-parted calyx. 



11. A 7-parted calyx. 



12. Ovary cut vertically, ovules pendulous. 



13. Ovary cut transversely, 3 cells each 2-ovuled. 



14. Portion of a female raceme magnified. (All drawn from fresh specimens.) 



28Q 



