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N. 0. URTICACEÆ. 1189


acuminate, 2-3½in. long, rigidly chartaceous, entire, glabrous ; the nerves thin, much crowded and uniting near the margin, all parallel with a transverse net venation between, prominent on both sides ; receptacles sessile by pair or solitary in the axils of the leaves, globular or almost obovate and narrowed at the base, varying in size from ½ to ¾in. in diameter, blood-red when fully ripe, glabrous, 3-bracted, the lateral bracts broad, but short, rounded, glabrous. Male flower, very few scattered, pedicelled ; sepals 2, large, flat ; anther subsessile. Gall flower, mostly pedicelled ; sepals 3 or 4, long, spathulate, ovary ovoid, smooth. Female flower sessile ; Sepals shortly spathulate, achene ovoid-reniform, longer than the style, stigma large.

Uses : —A decoction of the leaves mixed with oil is believed in Malabar to be a good application to ulcers. (Drury.)

1178. F. retusa, Linn., h.f.b.l, v. 511.

Syn. : — F. Benjamina, Willd., Roxb. 643.

Vern. : — Kamrup, Zir (H. B.) ; Butisa (Kol.) ; Sunumjon (Santal) ; Jili (Chutia Nagpur) ; Jamu (Nepal) ; Sitnyok (Lepcha); Nandruk (Mar.); Yerrajuvi, nandireka (Tel.); Pilála, pinval (Kan.)

Habitat: — Base of the Eastern Himalaya, Khasia Hills, Assam and the Deccan Peninsula.

A large, evergreen umbrageous, tree, often epiphytic, aerial roots slender, quite glabrous. " Bark brown, fairly smooth. Wood light, reddish-grey, moderately hard, with narrow, wavy bands of soft tissue, alternating with broader bands of firm texture. Pores moderate-sized, often sub-divided, scanty. Medullary rays short, moderately broad." (Gamble). Leaves elliptic, ovate or obovate, apex rounded, or shortly and bluntly acuminate ; blade 2-4 inches, narrowed into petiole, ¼-½in. Male flowers numerous, scattered, sessile, or short-pedicelled ; sepals 3, sub-spathulate; stamen single ; anther cordate, apiculate, as long as the filaments. Gall flowers sessile or pedicelled ; sepals 3, broadly spathulate; ovary smooth. Female flowers sessile, much smaller than in the gall ; styles of both short ;