LatDSonia.'] 



43. LYTHRACEJ!. 



175 



2. LAWSONIA, Linn. 



An erect, sometimes spinous, shrub. Leaves opposite, entire. 

 Flowers in terminal, panicled cymes. Calyx-tube very short ; lobes 4, 

 ovate. Petals 4, wrinkled. Stamens usually 8. Ovary free, 4-celled ; 

 style very long ; stigma capitate, ovules many, placentas axile. Seeds 

 many, smooth^ on a central placenta. 



L. alba, Lamk. 111. t. 296. fig. 2; DC. Prod. III. 91 ; PI. Br. I. 2. 

 573; Dalz. k Gibs. Bomb. PI. 97; Bedd. Fl. Sylv. 118; Brandis For. 

 PI. 238. The Henna Plant. Henne^ mendie^^ Vern. ; Gorantlu, K. 



Wild in Beluchistan, on the Coromandel Coast and perhaps in Central 

 India ; cultivated throughout the presidency in hedges, near the sea-coast 

 common. Fl. C. S. Pr. C. S. A large, smooth-barked shrub. Wood 

 grey, hard, close-grained. Yields the Henna dye. 



3. LAGERSTRCEMIA, Linn. 



Trees and shrubs. Leaves opposite (or the uppermost alternate), 

 entire. Flowers in axillary or terminal panicles, bracteate. Calyx- 

 tube funnel-shaped, cleft into 6 ovate lobes. Petals 6, clawed. 

 Stamens numerous ; filaments long exserted. Ovary sessile, 3-6- 

 celled ; style long, bent, stigma capitate, ovules numerous on axile 

 placentas. Fruit a coriaceous capsule, S-O-celled, loculicidally 

 dehiscent. Seeds winged. 



Calyx-tube smootb, lobes adpressed. Fruit ^-1 iu . . 1. L. parviflora. 

 Calyx-tube smooth, lobes patent or reflexed. Fruit 



small, ^ in 2. L, microearpa. 



Calyx-tube ribbed, tomentose, lobes spreading ... 3. L* Mos-Regince, 



1. L. parviflora, Roxb. Fl. Ind. II. 505; Bedd. Fl. Sylv. t. 31; 

 Gamble Ind. Timbers, 200. L. lanceolata, Dalz. & Gibs. Bomb. PL 98 ; 

 Gamble Ind. Timbers, 201 ; Brandis For. PI. 239 ; Bedd. PL Sylv. to 

 XXXII. (var. majuscula^ PL Br. I.) Chunung{,sokutia<f hondarehpYem.; 

 Lende, hondga, M. 



Throughout the presidency in deciduous forests from the coast inland. 

 I follow the PL of Br. I. in making only two species out of the 3 figured 

 by Beddome in the PL Sylv. t. 30, 31, 82. X. parviflora, is a well-defined 

 species with leaves glaucous beneath and a large capsule with adpressed 

 calyx-lobes. The variety majuscula, of C. B. Clarke in PL Br. I. p. 575, 

 is found in the northern parts of the presidency and is called Sokutia in 

 the vernacular. 



A small tree with a scaly bark like the Teak, but not so smooth, 

 inner bark light-red. Wood grey, elastic, hard, compact. Annual rings 

 sometimes distinct. Pores small or medium sized, enclosed in and con- 

 nected by irregular, short, concentric bands of light coloured tissue. 

 Weighs about 54 lbs. to the cub. ft. Med. rays fine, numerous, equi- 

 distant. 



