BoswBLUA.] BUBSERACE^. 147 



Calyx free, 3'6-lobed, imbricate or valvate, often minute. Petals 

 3-6, lar^ connate, imbricate or valvate. Dish annular or cupular,, 

 usually conspicuous. Stamens as many or twice as many as the 

 petals, inserted at the base or ma? gin of tlie disk, sometimes unequal ;. 

 fiilaments usually free ; anthers bursting longitudinally. Ovary 

 free, generally 2-5-celled ; ovules usually 2 in each cell, axile. Fruit a. 

 drupe, containing 2-5 pyreaes, rarely dehiscent. Seeds solitary, pen- 

 dulous, albumen 0. — Tropical regions of both hemispheres. 



Calyx small, open, fruit a trigonous valvately 



dehiscing capsule 1. Boswellia. 



Calyx urceolate, fruit a drupe. 



Flowers in racemes, calyx 5-fid ... 2. Garuga. 



Flowers fascicled, calyx 4-toothed . • 3. Commiphoea. 



1. BOSWELLIA, Roxb. ; Fl. Brit. Ind. i, 527. 



Trees abounding in resin. Bark often papery. Leaves alternate,, 

 jxstipulate, imparipinnate, deciduous ; leaflets opposite, sessile, usually 

 serrate. Flowers small, white, 2-sexual, in axillary racemes or panicles. 

 Calyx small, 5-toothed, persistent. Petals 5, distinct, narrowed at 

 the base, imbricate. Dish annular, crenate. Stamens 10, inserted 

 at the base of the disk. Ovary sessile, 3-celled ; style short ; stigma 

 3-lobed ; ovules 2 in each cell, pendulous. Drwpe 3-gonous, contain- 

 ing three 1-seeded pyrenes which finally separate. Seeds compressed, 

 pendulous. — Species about 10, inhabiting India and N. Tropical 

 Africa. 



B. Carterii, Birdw. is the Frankincense- or Luban-tree of Arabia. 

 B. serrata, Boxb. ex Colehr. in As. Bes, ix, 379, t. 5 ; Boyle III. 177 ; F.B. 

 I i, 528 ; Watt E. D. B. thurifera, Boxh. ex Flem. in As. Res. xi, 158; 

 Fl.Ind. ii, 383; W. Sf A. Prod. 174; Brand. For. Fl. 61. Vern. 8alai,. 

 fsaihe, gunj (Bundelkhand) . 



A moderate-sized deciduous tree, with a spreading flat crown. Outer 

 "bark greenish or ash-coloured, peeling off in smooth thin flakes. Leaves 

 crowded near the ends of the branches. Leaflets many, opposite or 

 nearly opposite, inequilateral, coarsely crenate-serrate, very variable in 

 size, shape and degree of pubescence. Bacemes shorter than the leaves. 

 Calt/aj-segments deltoid. Dish fleshy, red. Drupe i in. long, trigonous, 

 epliting into 3 valves. 

 Siwalik range and hills of Merwara and Bundelkhand, usually occupy- 

 ing the crests of the hills. Distbib. : Base of W. Himalaya west to the 

 Sutlej, Eajputana, Chota Nagpur, C. and S. India. Flowers April and 

 May ; fruit ripens July- Aug. A transparent fragrant gum is yielded by 

 this tree ; it ia burnt as incense, and also used medicinally. 



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