154 OLACINE^. [Qlas 



Forests of Dehra Dun, Saharanpur, Rohilkhand, Oadh and Gorakhpur. 

 It is also grown in gardens, and extensively planted along roadsides and 

 canal-banks. Distrib. : Sub-Himalayan tract up to 4,000 ft., from the 

 Indus eastwards, Bengal, Burma and S. India, extending to Java and 

 Australia. Flowers March and April, and the fruit ripens during June 

 and July. From the flowers a sulphur -coloured dye called 'basanti' is- 

 extracted, and the bark is used medicinally. 'I'he tree, however, is 

 chiefly valued on account of its timber, which is largely used for furni- 

 ture and for carving. It is sometimes called ' Indian Mahogany. ' Allied 

 to this species is C. serrata, Eoyle (111. t. 25), found in moist shady 

 valleys, up to 8,000ft. on the adjacent Himalayan ranges. It differs by 

 it3 larger palm-like leaves and serrate leaflets, the much larger panicles,, 

 and by its seeds which are winged at the apex only. 



XXXIII.-OLACINEiE. 



Teees or shrubs, rarely herbs, sometimes climbing. Jjeaves nsnaWj 

 alternate, simple or lobed, without stipules. Flowers in terminal 

 axillary or extra-axillary cymes, rarely capitate, regular, hermaphrodite 

 or 1-sexual, often dioecious, sometimes monochlamydeoas. Calyx 

 usually small, 4-5-toothed. Fetals 3-6, free or more or less coherent* 

 Stamens 3*15, inserted with the petals, free or adnate to them, all 

 fertile or some reduced to staminodes, separate or more or less mona- 

 delphoas. Disk hypogynous, cup-shaped. Ocary free or ^-inferior, 

 1-celled or imperfectly 2*3-5-celled ; style simple or 0, rarely divided ; 

 ovules 1-5, pendulous. Fruit drupaceous, or dry and indehiscent, 

 l-celled, 1-seeded, free or more or less adnate to the calyx -tube and 

 disk. Seed pendulous ; albumen fleshy, rarely 0. — Species about 220, 

 widely distributed throughout the Tropics. 



Perianth double ; stamens 3, with!5-6 staminodes . 1. Olax. 

 Perianth single ; stamens 4 or 5, alternating with 4-5 

 staminodes 2. Cansjeea. 



1. OLAX. Linn.; Fl. Brit. Ind. i, 574. 



Trees or shrubs, often scandent, sometimes prickly. Leaves 

 alternate, petioled, simple. Racemes axillary, simple or branched. 

 Bracts minute. Calyx minute, cup-shaped, truncate or obscurely 

 toothed, accrescent. Petals 3-6, hypogynous, ralvate, more or less 

 coherent. Fertile stamens usually 3. Staminodes 5-6, bifid, usually 

 opposite the petals. Ovary free, usually surrounded by a shallow 

 cup-shaped hy ogyuous disk, more or less 3-celled below, 1-celled 

 above; style simple, terminal; stigma 3-lobed ; ovules 3, linear, 

 pendulous from the apex of a central placenta. Fruit more or less 



