102 STEBCULIACE^. [Helicteees. 



2. HELICTERES, Linn. ; PL Brit. lod. i, 365. 



Trees or shrubs. Leaves simple. Flowers axillary, solitary or 

 fascicled. Calyx tubular, 5 -fid., often irregular. Petals 5, clawed, 

 equal or unequal, the claws often with ear-shaped appendages. 

 Sdaminal-Golnmn adnate to the gynophore, 5-toothed at the apex. 

 Anthers in groups at the top of the column between its teeth. 

 Ovary at the top of the column, 5-lobed, 5-celled ; styles subulate, 

 more or less united, stigmatose at the tips ; ovules many in each 

 cell. Follicles spirally twisted or straight, iseeds tubercled ; albu- 

 men scanty. — Species about 40, fouud iu the tropics of both hemi- 

 spheres, 



H. Isora, Linn. Sp. PI. 963 ; Roxh. Fl. Ind. Hi, 148 ; W. ^ A. Prod. 60 ; 

 Royle 111. 101 ; D. & O. Bomb. Ft. 22; F. B. I. i, 365 ; Brand. For. Fl. 

 34 ; Watt E. B. Vern. Marorphal, hhendu, Icapdsi (Saharanpur). 



A shrub or small tree. Young tranches rough with scattered stellate 

 hairs. Leaves bifarious, upwards of 5 in. long, palmately nerved,'obovats 

 or suborbicular, often 3-1 oh ed, ohliquely cordate, shortly acuminate, irre- 

 gularly serrate, rough above, pubescent beneath ; petiole I in. ; stipules 

 as long as the petioles, subulate, deciduous. Flowers solitary, or in few- 

 flowered minutely bracteolate cymes. Calyx | in., narrowly campanulate, 

 curved, laterally compressed, gibbous, hairyioutside ; teeth triangular, 

 acute, unequal. Petals red turning to lead colour, reflexed, the 2 lower 

 shorter and broader than the 3 upper ones, long-clawed, more or less 

 connate below, obtuse ; claws winged. Stammal-column fused with the 

 gynophore, exserted and reflexed above. Anthers IC, surrounding the ovary 

 and alternating in pairs with 5 minute scales (staminodes) within the 

 staminal-tube. Styles united, as long as the ovary; deflexed. Fruit about 

 2 in. long, cylindrical, composed of S.spirally twisted tomentose follicles 

 on a long gynophore. /Seeds numerous. 



Forests of Dehra Dun and Siwaliks, and eastward along the base of 

 the Himalaya ; common in Oudh, also in Bundelkhand and Merwdra. 

 DiSTBiB. : From the Punjab and Bengal to S. IndiaJandfGeylon ; also 

 Malay Pen., Java and Australia. The hazel-like foliage is renewed in 

 April ; the flowers open during the hot and rainy seasons, and the fruit 

 ripens in the cold season. A strong fibre,iresembling that of jute, is 

 obtained from the bark ; and the twisted fruit is much used medi- 

 cinally for intestinal disorders, on the theory of signatures. 



3. PTEROSPERMUM, Schreb. ; Fl. Brit. Ind. i, 366. 



Trees or shrubs, young parts scaly or stellate-tomentose. Leaves 

 usually bifarious, simple or lobed, penninerved, unequal-sided, 

 leathery. Peduncles 1-3, usually axillary. Bracteoles entire or laci- 

 niate, persistent or caducous. Calyx of 5 more or less connate 

 sepals. Petals 5, deciduous with the calyx. Staminal-colnmn. 



