80 



25. MELIACEJl. 



[Sojjmida, 



rough, exfoliating in large plates or scales. Wood : sapwood small, 

 whitisli ; heartwood very hard, close-grained, dark red coloured, durable. 

 Weighs about 74 lbs. to the cubic ft. Used for building purposes, well- 

 work, ploughshares, &c. Takes a fine polish, and is adapted for ornamental 

 furniture. The bitter bark is sometimes used for tanning also and by the 

 natives as a febrifuge. Yields a transparent gum like gum arabic from 

 wounds in the trunk . 



12. CHICERASSIA, Adr. Jusg. 

 A large tree. Leaves paripinnate; leaflets acuminate, oblique. 

 Flowers in terminal panicles. Calyx 5-divided. Corolla of 5, free, 

 contorted petals. Staminal tube cylindric, 10-crenate ; anthers 10, 

 erect, between the crenatures. Disk 0. Ovary 3-celled ; cells multi- 

 ovulate ; ovules biseriate. Fruit a 3-4-celled, septicidally 3-4-valved 

 capsule, valves consisting of 2 plates^ separating from the 3-winged 

 axis. Seeds numerouSj winged below, exalbuminous ; cotyledons 

 orbicular. 



C. tabularis, Adr. Juss. in Mem. Mus. XIX. 251. t. 22. f. 27 ; Fl. Br, 

 I. 1. 568 ; Bedd. Fl. Sylv. t. 9. G. Nimmonii, Grab. ; Dak. & Gibs. Bomb. 

 Fl. 38. Chittagong Wood Tree. Ldl devdari, pabha, M. 



Western Peninsula from the Konkan southwards, Ceylon, E. Bengal, 

 and Burma. Both the glabrous and villous varieties of this tree are 

 common in the evergreen forests of N. Kanara and the Konkan. The 

 villoas variety {G. velutina, Roeni.) has the capsule usually 4-valved. 

 Fl. Mcb.-Apl. Fr. Aug. -Sept. A fine tree with a cylindrical trunk 

 60 — 80 ft. to the first branch and 14 feet in circumference. Bark dark 

 coloured, narrowly longitudinally fissured with short, horizontal cracks 

 and a scaly rhytidome about '25 in. thick ; inner bark. '5 in. thick, 

 reddish, fibrous, in concentric rings. Wood scented, hard, yel- 

 lowish-brown, with a satiny lustre. Pores moderate sized, uniformly 

 distributed. Med. rays fine, numerous. Annual rings distinct. Weighs 

 about 50 lbs. to the cubic ft. Takes a fine polish and is suitable for 

 furniture, woodwork of railway carriages, building purposes and for 

 carving. It is much sought after in parts of Kanara for the houses 

 of the Haigas living in the vicinity of the evergreen forests, where 

 this tree is found. Yields a transparent, yellow gum, the very astringent 

 bark is used medicinally and the flowers yield a red and yellow dye. 



13. CEDRELA, Linn. 

 Large trees. Leaves pinnate ; leaflets numerous, opposite, oblique, 

 entire or serrate. Jb'anicles terminal. Calyx short, 5-cleft. Petals 

 ovate, imbricated, free. Stamens 4-6, inserted on the top of the disk, 

 alternating with staminodes. Disk 4-6-lobed. Ovary sessile on 

 the disk, 5-celled, cells with 8-12, biseriate ovules ; style filiform ; 

 stigma discoid. Capsule 5-celled, seeds winged, cotyledons flat, 

 sub-foliaceous. 



C. Toona, Roxb. Fl. Ind. L 635 ; Fl. Br. I. 1. 568 ; Bedd. Fl. Sylv.t. 

 10 ; Dalz. & Gibs, Bomb. Fl. 38 ; Brandis For. Sylv. 72. Toon Tree. 

 Todu^ maha nwi, tuni, hnnik, M. ; Tundu^ devdari, K, 



