Flora Medica

COMBRETACE.E.Nat. syst. ed.2.p.38.TERMINALIA.Flowers often polygamous from abortion. Limb of the calyxdeciduous, campanulate, 5-cleft, the lobes acute. Petals wanting.Stamens 10, in a double row, longer than the calyx. Ovary2-3-ovuled. Style filiform, somewhat acute. Drupe not crownedby the calyx, often dry, indehiscent, 1 -seeded. Seed almondlike.Cotyledonss pirally convolute. Trees or shrubs. Leavesalternate or rarely opposite, sometimes crowded towards theextremities of the branches. Flowers spiked:spikes racemoseor panicled, bisexual in the lower part of the spike, male in theupper. W.andA.141. T. Chebula Retz obs. v. 31. Roxb. cor.plt. 197. DC.prodr. iii. t. 12. Roxb. fl. ind. ii. 434. Myrobalana chebulaGcertn. ii. t. 97. ? Forests of Bengal.Trunk rarely straight, and but short for the size of the tree. Barkin young trees of about 7 or 8 years' growth, of a light ash colour, andslightly cracked ; their trunks are then from 2 to 3 feet in circumference3 feet above ground. Branches many, spreading much in every direction,their extremities often drooping, and while young, downy. Leavesopposite, or nearly so, short-petioled, oblong, entire, obtuse; whileyoung very downy on both surfaces, but when old underneath only; somesmall glands on the margins near the base, and generally 2 on the edgesof the downy petioles near the apex; about 6 inches long and Abroad.Stipules none. Spikes in a terminal panicle or axillary, and thengenerally undivided, downy. Flowers numerous, small, dull white, insmell offensive (as in most, ifnot all the other species,) all hermaphrodite.Bracts solitary, subulate, downy, 1-flowered. Calyx cup-shaped5-toothed, very hairy, particularly the inside; with 5 very hairy glands inits bottom surrounding the base of the style. Filaments 10, alternatelya little shorter, twice the length of the calyx. Anthers small, oval.Ovary inferior, oval, hairy, 1-celled, containing 2 ovules attached to thetop of the cell. Style rather shorter than the stamens. Stigma acute.Drupe oval, about 1^ inch long and 1 inch in diameter, smooth, of apale greenish-yellow, very obscurely 5-angled, 1-celled. Pulp in considerablequantity, hard and yellowish. Nut oblong, thick, and very hard,with the surface rough ; irregularly and obscurely 5-grooved, 1-celled.Seed solitary, lanceolate. Integument membranous. Albumen none.Embryo of the same shape as the seed, inverted. Cotyledons thin,large, spirally rolled up round each other and the lower part of thecylindrical superior radicle. Galls powerfully astringent, as fit formaking ink as oak-galls ; they yield the chintz painters on the coast ofCoromandel their best and most durable yellow. Roxb. With a ferruginousmud they strike an excellent black.67 * 2