Ximema.'] 



27. OLACINE.E. 



83 



1. XIMENIA, Linn. 



A shrub or low tree^ often spiny. Leaves alternate, simple. 

 Flowers racemose, bisexual or polygamous. Calyx cupular, 4-5- 

 toothed, persistent. Petals 4-6, revolute^ bearded within. Stamens 

 twice the number of the petals ; staminodes 0. Ovary sessile, 

 3 -eel led at base ; ovules 1 in each cell, pendulous. Drupe ovoid with a 

 fleshy sarcocarp, 1-seeded. 



.X. americana, Willd. Sp. PI. II. 230 ; Fl. Br. I.l. 574. False Sandal- 

 wood. Nekri, K. 



Eastern and Western PeninsulaSi Andamans, Ceylon and the Malay 

 Archipelago. In the dry parts of the Belgaum and Dharw4r Districts of the 

 Bombay Presidency ; common on the sandstone formation near Sutguttea, 

 Belgaum. Fl. and fruits at different times apparently. I have found it 

 flowering and fruiting both in January and during May. 



A species of variable habit, either an erect or climbing scandent shrub. 

 Stems 6 in. in diameter are not uncommon. Bark rough, blackish, or dark- 

 grej', '6 in thick ; inner bark bright-red, consisting principally of soft 

 bast. Wood yellow, like sandalwood, and used as a substitute for true 

 sandalwood by the natives on the Coromandel Coast. — Gamble. Wood 

 (from Belgaum district) yellowish-brown ; heartwoodmuch darker, smooth, 

 close-grained, hard, moderately heavy. Pores very small and numerous. 

 Weighs about 50 lbs. to the cubic foot. The ripe fruit is edible, 



2. OLAX, Linn. 



Shrubs or small trees, sometimes scandent. Leaves alternate, 

 simple. Flowers small in axillary racemes. Bracts minute. Calyx 

 cup-shaped, often enlarging after flowering. Petals 5-6, valvate, 

 more or less cohering. Fertile stamens usually 3, rarely 4-5, stami- 

 nodea 5-6, bifid ; anthers versatile. Ovary half immersed in the disk, 

 3-celled at the base, 1-celled above ; style simple^ terminal ,* stigma 

 3-lobedj ovules 3, linear, pendulous from the apex of the central 

 placenta. Fruit more or less covered by the accrescent calyx ; stone 

 crustaceous, 1-celled, 1-seeded. Seed inverse^ albuminous; embryo 

 minute, in the apex of the albumen ; radicle superior. 



Fruit nearly completely covered by the accrescent 



calyx ... ... ... ... 1. O. Wightiana^ 



Fruit Iths covered by the accrescent calyx ... 2. O. scandens. 



1. O. Wightiana, Wall. Cat. 6779 ; Fl. Br. I. 1. 575 j Dalz. & Gibs* 

 Bomb. Fl. 27; Bedd. Fl. Sylv. 60. Qendgisa, K. 



Western Peninsula from the Konkan southwards, Malacca and 

 Ceylon, The var. bracteata, is common in the evergreen forests o£ 

 North Kanara from Ainshi southwards. Fl. Jan.-Feb. Fr. ripe April 

 and May, A large scandent shrub. Fruit ovoid, nearly covered by 

 the truncate, yellow calyx. Bracts and petals very caducous. Wood 



