6 МЕ. Ө. BENTHAM’S SYNOPSIS OF DALBERGIE Ж, 
the tropical American ones specially noted for their woods. The 
Red Sandars and Ruby-woods of India are the produce of species 
of Pterocarpus, the Sissoo-wood, of Dalbergia Sissoo ; and there 18 
probably not a single tree in the whole tribe, of which the wood 
might not be worked with considerable advantage. 
Several species supply gum-resins, such as the Kino from Ptero- 
carpus erinaceus or echinatus in Africa, and from P. marsupwm 
and santalinus in India. Gum-dragon is said to be produced by 
Pterocarpus indicus in Asia, and in tropical America by P. Draco, 
and by a species of Pterocarpus on the Orinoco, of which I have 
only seen two pods in the Kew Museum, more like those of Р. in- 
dicus than of any American species known to me. Very similar 
resinous products are attributed to Ecastaphyllum monetarium, 
Drepanocarpus lunatus, and some others. 
The roots, bark, and fruits of several species are known to be 
highly astringent, narcotic, or poisonous. All the species of An- 
dira, commonly known in South America under the name of 
Angelim, are there considered as powerful anthelmintics. The 
Lonchocarpi, allied in botanical characters to Tephrosias, include, 
like them, several species used for poisoning fish; so also is the 
closely connected Piscidia erythrina. The fruits of several species, 
on the other hand, are much eaten in some countries, though we 
have occasional hints of their deleterious qualities, and they are 
probably never very palatable. "Those especially noted as articles of 
food for the natives are Pterocarpus esculentus, and the similarly 
eorky-fruited species or varieties of JEcastaphyllum in tropical 
Africa, the Geoffroya superba in North Brazil and Venezuela, the 
9. spinosa about Carthagena, and it is said also a species of Di- 
pteryx known as Almendron in Antioquia. АП ће Dipteryz fruits 
or seeds are, however, more used under the name of Tonga beans or 
Cumaroo for scenting snuff or for their oil, one of them supplying 
the Eboe oil of the Mosquito country. The fruits of the Pterodon 
of South Brazil are still more replete with an oil which is there 
said to have powerful medical properties. The Poonga or Kurunj 
oil of India is the produce of Pongamia glabra. But, whether for 
food or for medieal purposes, care is generally recommended in 
the use of all fruits and seeds of this tribe on account of their nar- 
cotic or intoxicating qualities, a principle which prevails more or - 
less in the tribes nearest allied, especially in the arborescent Ga- 
legee& and many Phaseolee, in which we find, in the seeds of closely 
allied species, important articles of food and virulent poisons. 
