bud. Staminal-tube 8-10-fid. Segments bidentate. Anthers between the subulate teeth of segments. Capsule ½-⅔in. diam. Valves 2, broad, obtuse. Seed enclosed in a thin white arillus. Testa orange, brown afterwards..
Use:— The bark and leaves possess bitter and' tonic principles (Duthic).
271. Carapa moluccensis, Lam, h. f. b. i., i. 567.
Syn. : — C. obovata, Bl., Xylocarpus granatum, Koen.
Vern: — Poshúir, pussur (B.) ; Kandalanga (Tam.)
Habitat : — Muddy sea-coasts, throughout India and Ceylon. In Ceylon ' mangrove swamps, on the west coast ; rather rare. Trimen says. " This is called the common ball tree from the great spherical hard fruit." The Sinhalese name is Mudunelun ; but is generally reckoned with mangroves and called, like them, Kadol.
An ever green tree, all parts glabrous. Bark thin, grey, peeling off in regular flakes. Wood red, hard ; sapwood lighter. Pores small to moderate sized, often subdivided, scanty. Medullary rays prominent, fine, numerous, uniform and equidistant Annual rings distinctly marked by a continuous belt of pores, and a dark line (Gamble). Stem 25-40ft. high, clear stem 8-20ft. long, girth 4-6ft. Leaves abruptly pinnate, or occasionally simple, the smooth rachis brown or red ; leaflets in 2 or a single pair, rarely the one or other solitary ovate to obovate oblong, narrowed at base, very shortly petioluled, round or retuse at the apex, 3-4in. long, entire, fleshy, coriaceous when fresh, glossy on both sides. Flowers pinkish yellow (Trimen), rather small, nearly 4 in. in diam., on 3-4 in. long, thick pedicels, forming meagre, short, glabrous panicles or recemes in axils of the leaves. Calyx 4-cleft, the lobes rotundate. Petals 4, about 2 in. long. Staminal-tube 8-lobed. Capsule globose, as large as a small shaddok, or smaller, apiculate, containing 5-6 very large angular brown seeds. (Kurz Fl.
