PHCEBE WIGHTII. (Nat. order Laurinese.) 



PHCEBE, Nets.— GEN. CHAR. Flowers herrnathrodite, calyx infuudibuliform 6-cle£t, lobea subequal persistent with the hardened tube, 

 fertile stamens 9, filaments filiform, the 3 iuner ones each furnished with 2 glands at their base, anthers ovate all 4-celled, the 6 outer introrse, the 3 

 iuuer extrorse, staminodes 3 stipitate cordate at the apex. Style filiform, stigma angulato-discoid, berry seated oa the cup-like 6-cleft persistent calyx 

 which is supported by the more or less thickened pedicel. Trees, leaves alternate or subverticelled, penniveiued or (in species not Indian) 3-nerved, 

 flowers naked in axillary or terminal eubcymose panicles. 



xHCEBE WlGHTIL (DC.) A good sized tree, branchlets tawny pubescent, leaves coriaceous oblong obovate or elliptic 

 acute or acuminate, above glabrous in age (except sometimes the impressed costa and veins) and somewhat shining, beneath tawny 

 pubescent, penniveined, the veins much, raised beneath, the veinlets prominently reticulated beneath but invisible above, 2-5 inches 

 long by 1-2^ inches broad, petioles tawny 3-6 lines long, panicles tawny-pubescent axillary shorter than the leaves racemiform or 

 sparingly branched, branchlets 3-flowered, flowers hoary, fruit -calyx much enlarged. DC. Prod. xv. 38. Phcebe lauceolata, Wight 

 I cones tab. 1820 (not Nees.) 



This tree is very common about Ootacamund and the higher ranges of the Nilgiris, and in many other localities along our Western 

 Ghats at considerable elevations, but it is absent from Ceylon. It is in flower and fruit all the year round. The tree is called Kumara by the 

 Burghers on the Nilgiris ; it yields a good dense wood of a light red colour, which is in use for various purposes with the natives. 



Analysis. 



1. Portion of the raceme. 



2. Mower buds. 



3, 4. A full flower opened out and the ovary removed, calyx 6-fid, stamens 9, the 6 exterior with 4-celled introrse Jiuthers, tha 

 3 interior with 4-celled extrorse anthers, and with 2 glands at the base ; staminodes 3 stipitate opposite alternate 

 exterior stameus. 



5. Inside view of one of the 3 interior stamens, showing the two glands at its base and its extrorse anthers. 



6. Outside view of the same. 



7. One of the alternate stamens of the outer row with the staminode iu front of it, anthers introrse. 



8. A staminode. 



9-.— Ovary, style and stigma. 



10. Ovary cut vertically. 



11. Ovary cut transversely. 



12. Portion of a branch iu fruit, the berry seated iu the persistent calyx with the pedicel thickened. (Drawn from living 



specimens.) 



292 



