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PERKIXS — THE LEGUMIXOSAE OF POBTO RICO, 153 



indehiscent; opicarp Ihin^ crustaroonp; mesorarp pulpy; ondocarp lliirk and floshy, 

 forniing complete partitions between the seeds; seeds obovate-elliptical or roundishj 

 compressed, with a thick, shining testa, each side marked with a large faintly defined 

 areole; albumen none. — Unarmed trees; leaves paripinnate; leaflets multijugate, 

 email, coriaceous, oblong, obtuse, reticulate, subsessile; stipules small, caducous; 

 flowers yellowish or red-striped, In terminal racemes; bracts and bracteoles, ovate- 

 oblong, colored, caducous. 



1. Tamarindus indica L. 



(Urban, 270.) 



Tree 5 to 8 meters high, wholly glal)rous or extremities at first thinly pubescent or 

 puberulous, sometimes glaucescent; leaves G to 15 cm. long; leaflets U5 to 2 cm. long, 

 5 to 6 mm. wide, oblong, 10 to 20-jugate; flowers variegated, racemose; calyx segments 

 11 mm. long, i mm. wide; petals 10 to 12 mm. long; legunu^ 5 to 15 cm. long, 1.5 to 2 



cm. wide, 1 to 4-seeded. 



Seemingly wild, also cultivated, in woods near Bayamon; near Aibonito at Cari- 



lilanco; near Penuelas; near Mayaguez; near Hincon, in mountain forests around 



Hacienda Nieve. — Bahama (Hitchcock), Cuba (Richard), Jamaica, Haiti, St. Thonms, 



St, Croix, St. John (Eggers), St, Martin {^Stockholm Herbarium), St. Bartholomew 



(do.), Guadehmpe, Martinique, St. Vincent, Bequia (Kew Bull. no. 81, p. 249), Mus- 



tique (do.), Margarita. 



The tamarind, the only species of the genus, valued on account of the acid pulp of 

 the fruit, would appear to be truly indigenous in tropical Africa. It is widely diffused 

 either under cultivation tir naturalized, through the Tropics of both the New and the 

 Old World. According to Grosonrdy (cited by Cook and Collins, p. 248) the wood is 

 of good weight and more than ordinarily hard. The texture is rather compact and the 



y 



grain fine. 



Tjocal name, tamarindo 



18. BAUHINIA L. 



i 



Bauhinia L. Sp. PL 1: 374. 1753, 



Flowers hermaphrodite, more rarely polygamous; calyx with a short turbinate or 

 tubular receptacle, before anthesis undivided and closed at the tup or contracted 

 beneath the top and t^hortly 5-1o1kk1, at anth(^sls variously divided, vaginate or with 

 3 to 5 valvate, rarely imbri(^ate, segments; petals 5, usually subequal, more rartdy the 

 uppermost differing in form from the others, iml>ricate in estivation; stamens 10, all 

 fertile, with free or more or less connate filaments an<l dorsifixed anthc^rs, or reduced 

 to 1 to 9 staminodia, or entirely wanting; ovary sessile or stipitate, rarely glandular 

 below, 2 to many-ovulato; style filiform, often very short, UHually long; stigma ter- 

 minal, dilated and ol)liqucly peltate or inconspicuous; legume o])long or linear, 

 straight, oblique^ or curvedj membranous, coriaceous, or almost fleshy, continuous or 

 pulpy between the seeds, seldom septate, indehiscent or 2-valved; seeds compressed, 

 albuminous, subglobular or ovate; seed coat ihin or hard; root short and straight, 

 rarely oblique or slightly curved. ^Trees or ere(*t or ?candont shrubs, \inarmed, or with 

 interstipulary prickles, and with round or unequally compressed or broadened and 

 flat trunk and often with branches that are transformed into tendrils; leaves simple, 

 sometimes entire, sometimes 2-lobed or parted, more rarely 2-foIioIato; stipules vary- 

 ing, caducous; flowers 2 or 3 together on leaf-opposed or terminal peduncles or collected 

 in simple or compound corymbs, racemes, or panicles, white or rose to purple and 



yellow- 



The three species of Bauhinia found in Porttt Rico are trees or shrubs, with 2-lobed 

 leaves. The calyx is closed at the top or contracted beneath the top and shortly 

 6-Iobed, and at anthesis is vaginate. In the section Pauletia, embracing two of the 



