Mesua fioribunda
(Wallich) Kosterm. in Reinwardtia 7: 427. 1969. Kayea flori-bunda Wallich, Pl. Asiat. Rar. 3:5, t. 210.1832; T.Anderson in Fl. Brit. India 1:276.1874.
Asm.: Bolong, Bah-bari, Darchong-khub, Karol, Kasukarol, Kurull, Kurrum-jowa, Phai-hershei, Serpai
Evergreen trees, up to 20 m tall; bole straight, ca 10 - 14 m long and 1 - 2 m in girth; wood heavy with distant but large pores; bark greenish grey or brown, reddish inside, exfoliating in round or squarish flakes, exudes yellow-gum; branchlets terete, glabrous. Leaves opposite, 12 - 27 x 3 - 8 cm., narrowly linear or broadly oblong to lanceolate, acute, cuneate or rounded at base, acute or acuminate at apex, thickly coriaceous, glabrous, pellucid-dotted at least when dry; lateral veins arched, meeting near margin, promment beneath, alternately shorter; petioles 1.5 - 2.5 cm long, slender, terete. Inflorescences ca 15 cm or more long, terminal many-flowered, lax, panicles, ultimate branchlets usually end in 3-flowered cymes. Flower buds globose; flowers white with rosy edges, 2 - 2.5 cm in diam., bisexual; bracts or bracteoles 2, opposite at the bases of branches of panicles and pedicels, 6 - 7.5 mm long, glabrous, deciduous; pedicels 6 - 8 mm long. Sepals 4, imbricate, orbicular, broader than long, truncate, green, outer ones 7 x 7 mm, wrinkled and yellow in fruit. Petals 4, ca 7 x 5 mm, oblong-obovate or obovate, membranous, thin but fleshy, slightly longer than sepals. Stamens numerous, 1 - 5 mm long; filaments filiform-capillary, linear; anthers subglobose, golden yellow, bilocular, reniform. Ovary ovoid-conical, unilocular; style slender; stigmas 4-fid. Fruits over 3.5 cm in diam., depressed globose, subglobose to transversely ellipsoid, brown, dry, resiniferous, covered by accrescent, rugose, hardened, yellow sepals, tipped by style. Seeds 1 - 2, reddish-brown, smooth.
Fl. & Fr. March - Aug.
Distrib. India: In tropical dense hill forests between 100 and 1000 m. Sikkim, Meghalaya (Khasi & Garo hills).
Endemic.
Bhutan and Bangladesh.
Notes. The bole is used for dug out canoes and wood for construction work and for making tool handles.
Evergreen trees, up to 20 m tall; bole straight, ca 10 - 14 m long and 1 - 2 m in girth; wood heavy with distant but large pores; bark greenish grey or brown, reddish inside, exfoliating in round or squarish flakes, exudes yellow-gum; branchlets terete, glabrous. Leaves opposite, 12 - 27 x 3 - 8 cm., narrowly linear or broadly oblong to lanceolate, acute, cuneate or rounded at base, acute or acuminate at apex, thickly coriaceous, glabrous, pellucid-dotted at least when dry; lateral veins arched, meeting near margin, promment beneath, alternately shorter; petioles 1.5 - 2.5 cm long, slender, terete. Inflorescences ca 15 cm or more long, terminal many-flowered, lax, panicles, ultimate branchlets usually end in 3-flowered cymes. Flower buds globose; flowers white with rosy edges, 2 - 2.5 cm in diam., bisexual; bracts or bracteoles 2, opposite at the bases of branches of panicles and pedicels, 6 - 7.5 mm long, glabrous, deciduous; pedicels 6 - 8 mm long. Sepals 4, imbricate, orbicular, broader than long, truncate, green, outer ones 7 x 7 mm, wrinkled and yellow in fruit. Petals 4, ca 7 x 5 mm, oblong-obovate or obovate, membranous, thin but fleshy, slightly longer than sepals. Stamens numerous, 1 - 5 mm long; filaments filiform-capillary, linear; anthers subglobose, golden yellow, bilocular, reniform. Ovary ovoid-conical, unilocular; style slender; stigmas 4-fid. Fruits over 3.5 cm in diam., depressed globose, subglobose to transversely ellipsoid, brown, dry, resiniferous, covered by accrescent, rugose, hardened, yellow sepals, tipped by style. Seeds 1 - 2, reddish-brown, smooth.
Fl. & Fr. March - Aug.
Distrib. India: In tropical dense hill forests between 100 and 1000 m. Sikkim, Meghalaya (Khasi & Garo hills).
Endemic.
Bhutan and Bangladesh.
Notes. The bole is used for dug out canoes and wood for construction work and for making tool handles.
