IAT8MA. ZEYLANICA. Nees. (Nat. order Lauvinew.) 



LlTS-42A, Juss. — GEN. CHAR. Flowers dioecious, calyx 4-6 parted, lobes subequal. Male, stamens 6, the 2 interior ones with i glands at 

 the base, anthers all 4-celled and introrse. Staminodes none. Female, sterile stamens 4-6 ligulate or spathulate, the 2 or 3 inner ones furnished with 

 glands on both sides at the base. Style filiform. Stigma discoid. Berry resting on the flat sometimes dilated perianth-tube, the segments persistent or 

 deciduous. Trees or shrubs, leaves alternate frequently crowded'and almost whorled at the ends of the shoots, usually penniveined but with few primary 

 veins and the lowest pair more prominent so as often to appear triplinerved. Flowers in sessile or nearly sessile clusters, surrounded by several very 

 deciduous imbricate bracts. 



IjITS-ZEA. ZEYLANICA. (Nees.) A large tree, the branches aud inflorescence quite glabrous or scarcely hoary with a 

 very rnb.ute tomentum. Leaves ovate-elliptical or elliptical-oblong acuminate, contracted at the base, 3 to 5 inches long, glabrous and 

 green above, white or glaucous underneath, penniveined but with few primary veins, the lowest pair more prominent than the others. 

 Flowers in sessile clusters in the axils or at the old nodes, on pedicels of 1 to 2 lines, usually glabrous as well as the perianths. Peri- 

 anth-segments ovate oblong obtuse. Filaments exserted, with a few hairs about the base ; glands of the two inner ones stipltate. 

 Berry globular or slightly ovoid, resting on the persistent perianth-tube, expanded into an entire or slightly angular flat disk of 2£ to 3 

 lines diameter, the segments entirely deciduous. Meissn. in DG. Prod. xv. i. 226; — Wight Ic. t, 132 and 1844 ; — Benth, Fl. Aust. 

 v. p. 307. L. foliosa, DC. Prod. xv. 222. L. scrobiculata, DG. 1. c. p. 223. L. umbrosa et consimilis, DG. 1. c. p. 223. 



This tree is most abundant on the Nilgiris at 6000-7000 feet elevation, and is found throughout our Western Ghats at elevationt above 

 2000 feel, and it is equally common in Ceylon, where it is called Dawal-hooroondoo. Its wood is in use for house-building purposes, planks, rafters, 

 &c, it is yellowish in color, straight-grained and tough, and when fresh emits anodour of Sweet Briar ; it is callel Belori by the Burghers on the 

 Nilgiris. 



Analysis. 



The figure represents a branch of the female tree. 



1. A male flower. 



2. The same open, calyx 4-parted, stamens 6, anthers all introrse aud 4-celled, the 2 interior stamens with a pair, of glands at 



the base. No staminodes. 



3. One of the exterior and 1 of the interior stamens removed, 



4. Abortive ovary. 



5. Involucre of male flower. 

 5. Involucre of female flower. 



7. A female flower. 



8. The same open, 6 sterile ligulseform stamens, the 2 interior with, glands. 

 9, 10. Sterile stamens removed from the flower. 



11. Ovary cut vertically. 



12. Fruit. (Drawn from living specimens.) 



294 



