Pittofipornm!] 



10. PITTOSPOREiE. 



23 



Order 10. PITTOSPOREiE. 



Ti-ees or shrubs, erer-t or climbing. Leaves entire, alternate or siib- 

 verticellate, exstipulate. Flowers small, hermaphrodite, terminal or 

 axillary. Sepals and petals each 5, imbricate. Torus small. Sta- 

 mens 5, opposite the sepals. Ovary 1-celled, with 2-5 parietal pla- 

 centas, or 2-5-celled by the projection of the placentas, with many 

 parietal or axile, anatropous ovules ; style simple; stigma 2-5-lobed, 

 terminal. Fruit a woody capsule or indehiscent^ many-seeded ; seeds 

 in pulp. Albumen copious ; embryo small, radicle next the hilum. 



An unimportant order, containing two small arborescent species of the 

 genus Fittosjjornm, indigenous in the Bombay Presidency along the 

 Western Glidts. 



PITTOSPORUM, Banks. 



Erect trees or shrubs. Leaves quite entire, exstipulate. Sepals 

 free or connate below. Petals connate at the base. Ovary sessile or 

 shortly stalked, incompletely 2-3-eelled ; ovules 2 or more on each 

 placenta. Capsule 1-celled, woody, usually li-valvtd ; placenta in the 

 middle of each valve. Seeds smooth, imbedded in pulp. 



Glabrous. Flowers small. Fruit pisiform ... 1, P. Jlorihundum. 

 Tomentose. Flowers larger. Fruit broad, com- 

 pressed ... ... ... ... 2. P. dasycaulon. 



1. P. floribundum, W. & A. Prod. 154 ; Fl. Br I. 1. 199; Dalz. & 

 Gib9. Bomb. Fl. 44; Bedd. Fl. Sjlv. 17 ; Brandis For. Fl. 19 ; Grah. 

 Cat. Bo. PI. 38. GeUstrus verticellata^ Boxb. Fl. Ind. L 624. Yehhadi, 

 vehkctli, vehyenti, M. 



Himalaya from Sikkim to Garwal, ascending to 7000 feet near Darjeel- 

 ing, Khasia Bills, W. Ghats from the Konkan to the IsTeilgherries. 

 Usually on dry rocky situations. Bark grey, rough with small lenticular 

 specks. Wood light-coloured, strong and tough. Bark bitter and arom- 

 atic, used as a febrifuge and believed to be an antidote to snake poison. 

 Fl. Apl.-Sept. Fr. C. S. 



2. P. dasycaulon, Miquel in Herb. Hohenack, 775 ; Bedd. Fl. Syly. 

 23t3. FJ. Br. I. 1. 199. Gapsundi, M. ; Boogri, K. 



Western Peninsula, Konkan ; North Kanara ; Belgaum ; common in 

 the evergreen gli^t jungles. 



This small tree appears to have a rather restricted habitat. It is not 

 mentioned by Dalzell from the northern parts of the Bombay presidency, 

 nor by Beddome from Madras : it replaces P. jPorihundumi in the moist 

 forest zone of Kanara and Belgaum. Fl. cold season. Fr. Feb. to 

 rainy season. 



