Engelhardia colebrookiana Lindl. in Wall. Pl. As. Rar. 3:4. t. 208. 1832. Hook. f., l.c.; Bamber, Pl. Punj. 46. 1916; Parker, l.c. 486. (Fig. 2, A-F) E. villosa Kurz, For. Fl. Brit. Burma, 2:491.1877; Juglans villosa Wall. Cat. n. 4945, nom. nud.
Vern. ‘samma’.
Deciduous tree up to 10 m tall. Young shoots tomentose. Leaves par¬pipinnate, up to 30 cm long; leaflets opposite, 4-5 pairs, ovate-oblong, 8-15 cm long, 4-7 cm broad, lower surface and veins tomentose; petiolule 3-4 mm long, tomentose. Male catkins lateral on shoots, up to 8 cm long, pubescent; bract 3-lobed, united at the apex of the elongated torus, narrowly ovate, c. 1 mm long, pubescent; torus 2.5-3 mm long, pubescent; perianth of 4-5 linear-ovate to linear tepals, more or less the size of the bract; stamens 5-7; filament short, anther c. 1.2 mm long, apiculate, hispid. Female spikes up to 20 cm long, tomentose, hairs yellow; bract of 3-5 oblong-lanceolate lobes, membranous, veined, cupular below and enclosing the perianth; the median lobe the largest, 6-8 mm long, up to 35 mm in fruit; perianth tube adnate to the ovary; tepals 4, linear to oblong-lanceolate, c. 1.5 mm long, glandular; ovary 2-2.5 mm long; styles 2, recurved, papillose to fimbriate; stigmas short. Nut subglobose, c. 6 mm broad, coriaceous, adnate to the bract.
Fl. Per. March-April.
Type: Described from the mountains in Nepal, Wallich, Pl. As. Rar. 208. 1832.
Distribution: NW. Himalaya, China, Assam and Burma.
Not a common tree here; found in the Himalayas up to 1700 m alt. s.m.
The burnt leaves and branches can be used as manure.
