346 



LVI. datiscaoej:! 



[I'^etrameleb 



0mm LVI. DATISCACE^. Gen. PL i. 884. (Datiscese.) 



TETRAMELES, E. Br.; Fl. Brit. Ind. ii. 657. 



T. nudiflora, E. Br. (the only species) ; Bedd. Fl. Sylv. t. 212.— Syn. T. 



Gmhamiana, Wight Ic. t. 1950. Vera. YermaJ, Kan. ; Chini, Tarn. : Chlnl 



Telia Pasa, Mai. ; Thifpdk, Lower, Bahiy, Upper Burma. 



A very tall, fast growing 

 deciduous tiee^ wood soft, 

 trunk straight, often much 

 buttressed at the base, bark 

 smooth, grey, leaf-scars pro- 

 minent on brancLlets ; petioles 

 and young 1. hairy. L. broadly 

 ovate, base cordate, 5 basal 

 nerves, blade 5-7, petiole 2-1 

 in. long, stipules 0. Fl. dioeci- 

 ous, tetramerous, apetalous, 

 ($ in panicles fasciculate at 

 tiie ends of branchlets, calys 

 deej)ly cut into 5 segments, 

 stamens 4, round a depressed 

 disk, opposite to calyx-seg- 

 ments. ? in numerous ter- 

 minal pendulous racemes, 

 pedicels very short, ovary in- 

 ferior, 8-ribbed, 1 -celled, ovules 

 00 on 4 parietal placentas. 

 Capsule crowned by the per- 

 sistent calyx- segments, opening 

 at the summit, the valves 

 terminating in the persistent 

 styles. Seeds minute, embryo 

 cylindrical, in scanty albumen. 



Terai and outer lulls, Barjeeling 

 district ascending to 3,000 ft. 

 Andamans. Burma, Upper and 

 Lower. Western Gliats and Nil- 

 girls, in Sliolas and evergreen 

 torest. L. slied early in January. 

 FI. Feb.-Apr. wliile leafless. — Cey- 

 lon. Ind. Archip. 



OedeiiLVII. — Cactacess. Opuntia 

 BUlenii, Haw.; Wight 111. 1. 114. 

 FrkMy Pear, Yern. Nagphana, 

 Hind. ; JSfagajeonmadii, Tel. ; Mul- 

 lugalll, PapaskaUi, Kan. Indigen- 

 ous m Soutii America, naturalized 

 in India, extending North as far 

 as the Jhelum, and ascending to 

 2,000 ft. in the N.-West Himalaya. 

 Branches flat, succulent, jointed, 

 the joints more or less obovate, hearing dense woolly hairs with tufts of numerous 

 bristles and long sharp spines. FL bisexual, regular, yellow, tinged with red^ open 

 during the day only, arising from the tufts on the upper edge of the joints. Calyx- 

 tube adnate to the ovary, not prolonged beyond it, lobes numex^ous, on the upper edge 

 and on the surface of the calyx-tube (more correctly called a hollow receptacle, see p. 



Fia. 146. — Tetrameles nudiflora, B. Br. ^. 



