Ephedra.] 



84. GNETACEiE. 



337 



and enclosed in an undivided perianth. Seed dry or drupaceous ; 

 albumen copious or scanty, embryo straight ; cotyledons adpressod, 

 radicle long, superior. 



Nearly leafless shrubs 1. Ephedra, 



Shrubs with broad green leaves. 2. Qnetuvn, 



1. EPHEDRA, Linn. 



Shrubs or undershrubs with nodose stems, branches articulate. 

 Leaves reduced to a membranous sheath with 2 opposite lobes. 

 Flowers dioecious in sessile or pedunculate spikes, opposite, in pairs 

 or whorled, bracteate. Male flower ; perianth of 2 membranous, 

 opposite sepals. Anthers 2-10, sessile or stipitate. Female fl., a 

 naked ovule with the outer coat produced into a styliform tube. 

 Seeds usually oblong, plano-convex ; testa dry. Wood of Ephedra is 

 similar in structure in some respects to the wood of the Coniferm, 

 and contains the fibres with bordered pits characteristic of that order. 



E. peduncularis, Boiss Fl. Orient. V. 717 ; Fl. Br. I. 5. 641. B, AUe, 

 Brandis For. Fl. 501. 



Plains of Sind, Punjab and Rajputana. Fl. Mch.-Apl. Fr. ripe May. 

 A tall, scandent shrub with slender branches often gregarious, forming 

 dense clamps of brushwood in very dry and arid situations. 



2. GNETUM, Linn. 



Climbing shrubs with jointed branches. Leaves elliptic, petiolate 

 penninerved. Flowers monoecious, in the axils of cup-shaped bracts 

 and mixed with articulate hairs. Male fl. monandrous, protruding 

 from a thick clavate sheath, slits terminal. Female fl. Ovule 

 ovoid, inner integument with a toothed or fimbriate mouth. Fruit 

 an oblong drupe. 



G. scandens, Roxb. Fl. Ind. III. 518 ; Fl. Br. I. 5. 642 ; Brandis For. 

 Fl. 602 ; Dalz. & Gibs. Bomb. Fl. 246. Kumhal, umbli, Vern. ; Kodkan 

 balii, K. 



Tropical Himalaya from Sikkim eastwards to Assam, Singapore and the 

 Andamans. Throughout the moist forests of the Konkan and North 

 Kanara, very common in the evergreen forests of the Supa ghdts. Fl. 

 Jan.-Apl. Fr. ripe B. S. The fruit is said to be eaten, also the roasted 

 seeds. Stems 8 inches in diameter at the base. Bark thick, scaly with 

 interrupted rings of brownish yellow, fibrous tissue. Wood of abnormal 

 structure, consisting of many narrow sofb yellowish Hgneus masses 

 containing numerous, very large to small open pores and separated 

 by thin layers of medullary tissue. Groups of these masses form rings of 

 growth about | in. broad on a radial section. Each group is surrounded 

 by a thick layer of dark medulla. The whole surrounded by bark. Weighs, 

 about 40 lbs. to the cub. ft. 

 B 987—43 



