Shorea] XVII. DIPTEROCARPACEAE 60 tightly enclosing the fruit, the 3 outer ones larger and much longer than fruit. Cotyledons fleshy, tilled with starch or fat oil, concave, one embracing the other, and the lignified placenta with remains of dissepiments enclosed by them. Species 89, of which 7 are here described. In the circumference of the pith at the base of internode from 3 to 30 resin ducts. Three leaf traces enter petiole, the 2 lateral enter the bark at different levels. The petiole below insertion of blade as a rule has a semicircle of 7 or 9 half-moon shaped vascular bundles, distinct or confluent, each with a resin duct. The central mass of vascular bundles consists of several curved bands, with or without resin ducts. A. Stamens 20-60, appendage of connective ciliate, stylopodium large, hairy, as well as ovary ; style short, glabrous, stigma minute. The species of this section have young shoots and inflorescence grey stellately pubescent. 1. S. robusta, Gaertn. f. : Roxb. Cor. Pl. t. 212; Bedd. Pl. Sylv. t. 4. Brandis F. Fl. 26 t. 9. The Sal tree. Vern. Sal, sakhu, Hind; Koroh, Oudh; Sarei, rinjal, C. P.: Sarjom, Kol; Salwa, soringhi, Uriya ; Gugal, Tel. A large gregarious tree, heartwood dark brown, coarse-and cross-grained, hard, heavy, strong and tough. Leaves when full grown glabrous and shining, 4-10 in. long, from a rounded or cordate base broad-ovate, more or less acuminate, ending in an obtuse point, secondary nerves 10-12 pair, stipules caducous, petiole £ the length of blade. Fl. yellowish on short pedicels, in unilateral racemes arranged in large compound axillary and terminal panicles. Calyx and petals softly grey tomentose outside, calyx lobes short, triangular. Petals 4 times the length of calyx, orange inside. Wings of fruiting calyx obtuse, oblong or spathulate, the larger '2-3 in. long, with 10-15 parallel longitudinal nerves and distinct straight or oblique transverse veins. The area occupied by the Sal tree forms two irregular but fairly defined belts, separated by the Gangetic plain. The northern or subhimalayan belt extends from the Kangra valley in the Punjab to the Darrang and Nowgong districts in Assam. Further to the north-west the cold is too severe, while further east in the Brahmaputra valley the climate is too moist throughout the year. The southern or Central India belt extends from the Coromandel coast west to the Pachmarhi sandstone hills, and south to the Godavari river. Never quite leafless, the young foliage appears in March with the flowers. The seed ripens in June and germinates immediately, often before falling to the ground. 2. S. Tumbuggaia, Roxb.; Bedd. Fl. Sylv. t. 5. — Syn. Vatica Tumbuggaia, Wight et Arn.: Wight Ic. t. 27. Vern. Tamba, Jalari, Tel. Hills of Cuddapah and North Arcot. A large tree, differs chiefly by smaller leaves, secondary nerves 8-10 pair, petiole 1/3-1/2 length of blade. 3. S. obtusa, Wall.; Kurz, F. Fl. i. 118; Pierre, Fl. For. Cochinch. t. 234. Vern. Thitya, Burm. A largo tree, heartwood similar to that of Sal, but more even-grained. Leaves 4-6 in., oblong, obtuse, narrowed into petiole 1/6-1/8 length of blade, secondary nerves 10-14 pair. Eastern Peninsula, not known north of 20° N. Lat., generally associated with Dipterocarpus tuberculatus; in Cambodia, according to Pierre, forming pure forests by itself. B. Stamens 15-20, rarely more, anthers oblong, connective terminating in a long filiform naked appendage. Ovary mostly glabrous, no stylopodium, style longer than ovary, stigma generally 3-dentate. Fig. 30.—Shorea obtusa, Wall. Transverse section of internode below insertion of petiole, magnified 17 times. Three leaf traces in the bark, the apical with 3 resin ducts, each of the two lateral with one.