A. RADCLIFFE-SMITH
Drypetes roxburghii (Wall.) Hurusawa
A dioecious tree up to 15 m with pendent branches. Bark yellowish-grey, ± smooth. Wood whitish, close-grained, hard. Twigs sparingly pubescent. Petioles 5-10 mm long, evenly pubescent. Leaves elliptic-lanceolate, 2–9 x 1–4 cm, obtuse or subacute, oblique at the base, shallowly crenate-serrate and undulate, lateral nerves 10-20 pairs, tertiary nerve-network reticulate, pubescent when young, soon glabrescent, dark green, glossy above. Stipules narrowly lanceolate, 1 mm long; acute, caducous. Male fascicles dense, 5–8 mm across. Male flowers: calyx-lobes ovate or oblong, 2 x 1–1.5 mm, ciliate, yellowish-green; filaments very short; anthers 2 x 1.5 mm., ciliate, yellow. Female flowers: pedicels 5–40 mm long, extending to 1–2 cm long in fruit; calyx-lobes as in the ♂; ovary ovoid, tapering into the style, 2 x 1.5 mm, whitish-tomentose, 3-celled; style 3–4 mm long, stigmas cuneate, flabelliform. Fruit ovoid-ellipsoid, pointed at both ends, c. 1.5 x 1 cm, white-tomentose; endocarp rugose, c. 1 nun thick. Seed ovoid, c. 1.3 x 0.8 cm, with a pale exotesta and a darker endotesta.
Fl. Pet: Mar: May. Fr. Per.: January-February.
Type: India, Roxburgh (not seen).
Distribution: As for the genus. Native from Jammu eastward, cultivated as an ornamental elsewhere. Native at c. 1000'/300 in., cult. at lower altitudes.