338 COMBRETACi:^. [Combbeiitjm. 



2. COMBRETUM, Linn. ; El. Brit. Ind. ii, 452. 



Large shrubs (except C. nanum), with long pendent or scandent 

 branches, rarely spinescent. Leaves entire, petioled, ^opposite or more 

 seldom alternate or ternate. Flowers polygamo-dioecious, often in 

 panicled spikes or racemes ; bracteoles small. Calyss-tuhe constricted 

 above the ovary, more or less produced, nrceolate, funnel-shaped or 

 tubular ; limb 4-5 lobed, deciduous. Petals as many as the calyx- 

 lobes (rarely o), placed ou the calyx-limb. Stamens twice as ^ many 

 as the petals, inserted in 2 series with them. Ovary inferior, 1- 

 celled ; style subulate, simple ; ovules 2-5, pendent from the top of 

 the cell. Fruit with 4-5 wings angles or ridges, dry, generally 

 indehiscent. Seed 1.— Species 160, in all tropical regions, except 

 of Australia and Polynesia. 



A large climbing shrub with S-merous flowers , 1. 0. decandrum. 

 A small decumbent undershrub with 4-merous 

 flowers 2. C. nanum. 



1. C. decandrum, Boxh. Cor. PI. \ 43, t. 59; Fl. Ind. ii, 282 ; Brand. 

 For. Fl. 221 ; F. B. I. ii, 452 ; Watt E. D. Poivrea Eoxburghii, DC. ; W. 

 ^ A. Prod. 317.--Yevn:Buel (Dehra Dun), :punk (N. Oudh). 



A large shrub with many pendulous and subscandent branches, con" 

 spicuous when in flower by its bracts which become creamy white^ 

 Young parts silky-pubescent. Leaves opposite, 4-5 in. long, elliptic' 

 oblong, abruptly acuminate, glabrous on both surfaces when mature, or 

 with tufts of hairs in the axils of the nerves beneath, petiole J in. 

 Flowers 5-merous, about y in. long, greenish- white, in dense very villous 

 racemes which form large terminal panicles ; bracts 2-3 in. long, villous, 

 becoming petaloid at the time of flowering ; hracteoles 5 in., linear, 

 subpersistent. Calyx urceolate, hardly constricted above the ovary, 

 hairy within and without ; lobes suberect, lanceolate-subulate, deci- 

 duous. Petals 5, oblong, glabrous. Ovary sessile, villous. Fruit about 

 1 in. long, oblong or elliptic, with 5 broad smooth membranous wings. 



Abundant within the area, especially in the Sub -Himalayan tracts. 

 DiSTEiB, Throughout N. and Cent. India; less plentiful in thelPunjab 

 and becoming scarce towards S. India ; common in Burma. Flowers 

 during Feb, and March. 



2< C. nanum, Buch.-Ham. in Don. Prod. 219; Brand. For. Fl.^221; 

 F. B. I. ii, 457 ; Watt E. D. 



A small decumbent nearly glabrous undershrub ; branches 6-18 in. 

 Leaves 2-4 in. long, broadly obovate or ovate -lanceolate, coriaceous, 

 glabrous and shining, sparsely punctulate on both surfaces ; main lateral 

 nerves 3-4 pairs, arcuate _; petiole |-| in. Racemes few, simple, sub- 

 terminal, on peduncles 1-2 in. long ; bracteoles small, linear-spathulate. 



