160 CONTRIBUTIONS FEOM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 



Near Bayamon; near Cabo Rojo around Hacienda Carniolita; near Mayaguez at 

 the fortress.— Bahama (Hitchcock), Cuba (Grisebach), Jamaica, Haiti, St. Thomas, 

 St. Croix (Eggors), Guadeloupe, Martinique, St. VinceuL, Bequia (Kew Bull. no. 81, 

 p. 249), Barbados, Grenada, Tobago, Trinidad. Tropical and subtropical America, 

 Asia, Africa, and Aut^tralia, generally common in cultivated and waste places; in the 

 United States extending as far nortli ari Virginia, Indiana, and Arkansas. 



This plant is striking on account of its narrow linear curved legumes, which are 

 oblong-quadrate in section. The young leaves, in apiLe of their di,sagreeable odor, 

 are used as a vegetable, while both the heaves and seeds constitute a valuable remedy 

 in skin diseases. The seeds when roasted and ground are said to yield a decoction 

 which is reported to be in every respect as good as coffee. 



Local name, dorinidera. 



9. Cassia alata L.« 



(Url)an, 275.) 



An erect glabrous or suljglabrous t^hrub, 2 to 4 meters high; leaves 30 to GO or 90 

 cm. long, rachis acutely margined above when dry, glandular, with a ])romiaent trans- 

 verse ridge connecting the opposite leaflets; leaflets 9 to 12-jugate, up[)er larger leaflets 

 obovate-elliptical, 7.5 to 17.5 cm. long, firmly membranous; flowers light yellow, in 

 axillary or terminal racemes; sepals 1 cm. long; petals obovate, 1.5 to 1.9 cm. long,^ 

 the claw 2 to 3 mm. long; legume 2-valvcd, coriaceous, 12.5 to 15 cm. long, 1 to 2 cm. 

 wide, each valve with a very prominent crenate h)ngitudinal wing extending its 

 entire length and incurved toward the ventral suture. 



Wild and cultivated, near Bayamon^ in gardens; n<^ar Coamo, in the valley of El 

 Fuerte Kiver; near Maricao, on the bank of the river near Mayaguez.— Cuba, Jamaica, 

 Haiti, St. Thomas (Grisebach), St. John, St. Croix (Eggers), Guadeloupe, Martinique, 

 St. Vincent, Grenada. Widely spread in the Tropics of both heniisplicres, thougli 



probably indigenous only in America. 



This is the only Cassia species in Forto Rico in whicli the legume is winged. The 

 large leaflets connected by a transverse ridge make it easily recognizod. From the 

 leaves, especially in Java and South America, is made a remedy used in skin diseases 

 and they were formerly officinal under the name of folia cassiac^ herpetica. 



Local names, talantala, talaniro. 



10, Cassia polyphylla Jacq. 



(Urban, 274.) 



Shrub 2 to 4 meters high or tree 15 meters high ; leaflets 5 to I5-jugate (often 10 to 12- 

 lUgate), minute, 4.5 to 6.5 mm. long, '?, to 4 mm. wldo: flowers solitary hi the axils of 

 the leaves; sepals 7 nun. long; petals 1.7 cm. long; pedicels 1.5 to 2 cm. long, 



slender; legume 15 cm. long. 



Near Guavama; near Coamo, at San Ildefonso and on the declivities of Mount 

 Santana; along roads between Aibonito and Coamo; near Ponce, at Pefion; near.Tuana 

 Diaz, at Escalabrado; near Guanica, in littoral thickets; near Salinas de Cabo Rtijo, 

 in the soashore woods of Mount Juliana.— Haiti, St. Thomas, St. Ooix. Tropical 



America. • 



This differs from all the other Porto Klco Cassia spec-ios in its small fasciculate leaves 



and its minute leaflets. 



11. Cassia emarginata L* 



(Urban, 274.) 



Shrub 3 to 10 or tree 15 meters high; leaflets 2 to G cm. long, 1.5 to 3 cm. wide; 

 flowers golden yellow, in racemes which are solitary or fasciculate in the axils of the 



a For illustration see Cook and Collins, pi 39, facing p. 159 (as Herpetica alata). 



