N. 0. ANACARDIAOE^E. 
385 
Habitat Tropical outer Himalaya, from Sirmoor to Sikkim, 
and throughout the hotter parts of India, as far east as 
Assam (absent in the Eastern Peninsula). 
\ 
A handsome tree, 20-40ft. high ; deciduous, girth 4-6ft. 
Bark lin thick, dusky grey ; wounds on bark yield a brownisl 
soft gum which dissolves slowly in the mouth. Wood ash- 
coloured, reddish white or brown ; even, but open-grained ; full 
of acrid juice, causing irritation and swelling. Leaves gener- 
ally closely arranged at the extremities of the branchlets of 
numerous spreading branches ; simple, alternate, very coriace- 
ous, flat ; 9-30in. by 5-12in., cuneate, oblong or obovate-oblong, 
rarely linear-oblong. Apex rounded, margins entire, cartilagin- 
ous. Base rounded, cordate or cuneate ; surface opaque above, 
slightly pubescent, especially when young, whitish or glaucous 
and thickly pubescent beneath. Nerves 16-25 pair, stout, 
slightly arched, pale whitly. Venation marked coarse on the 
under surface. Petiole l-2in., densely puberulous ; small, 
-j-|in. diam., subsessile, fascicled in erect tomentose compound 
terminal panicles. Bracts and bracteoles fugacious /Estivation 
imbricate. Female and Hermaphrodite flowers lj-£in. long, 
longer than the almost sessile male flowers Calyx 5-fid. ; 
segments deciduous. Corolla greenish white or greenish yellow; 
petals 5, 3 or 4 times the length of Calyx, oblong, pointed at 
the apex, inserted under the margin of the disk, sessile, glab- 
rous, very spreading. Disk annular, broad, between stamens 
and ovary. Stamens 5, alternate, inserted on the margins of 
the disk ; imperfect or sterile in female flowers, equal, dis- 
tinct ; filaments subulate from a somewhat dilated base, of the 
length of petals. Anthers ovoid or elliptical, yellow. Ovary 
free, sessile, one-celled, densely appressed, tawny, hispid. 
Styles 3, divergent, incrassate. Stigma subclavate, shortly 
2-lobed or retused. Ovules inserted at apex of the cell. Pen- 
dulous from a basal funicle. Male flowers often on a separate 
tree. Calyx and Corolla as in the hermaphrodite flower, but 
smaller. Filaments 5, of the length of petals. Anthers much 
larger than the hermaphrodites. Pistil absent or abortive. 
Fruit, a drupe, lin. long, and about as broad or i'in., ovoid, 
49 
