194 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM TEIE NATIONAL IIERBARTUM:. 



I 



(Egg(^rs), Guadeloupo, Martinkiuo, St. Lucia (Grisebacli), St. Vincent (do.). Tropical 



Anieri(*a and western Africa, 



This plant grows chiefly ncnir the seashore and is noticeable on account of its short, 

 sharply recurved spines and its pod, Avhich is so Ix^nt that the point touches the base. 



Local names, palo dc koz, cscamhron, 



47. PTEROCABPUS L. 



Vicroairpits L. Sp. PI ed. 2. 2: 16(52. ITG:?. 

 Moulouchi AuBL. PI. Gui. 2: 748. pi 309. 1775. 

 Moutouchia Bexth. Ann. Wien Mus. 2: 91 1838. 



■ 



Calyx canipanulate, often incurved, narrowed at the base, the two ni)per teeth 

 more or less connate; standard broa<lly ovate or suborbicular; win.irs obli(piely 

 obovate or oblong; keel with its petals resembling or t^hort*^ than the wings, free or 

 shortly connate on the back; stamens all connate in a sheath slit above or both above 

 and below, or the upper one free; ovary sessile or stipitate, 2 to G-ovulate; style fili- 

 form, slightly incurved; stigma small, terminal; pod comi)ressod, indeluscent, orbicu- 

 lar or broadly ovate, more or less oblicpie, the style lateral or terminal, seminifenjus 

 in the center and tliere more or less iiicrassated^ with a wing round the border; 

 seeds i or 2, oblong or subreniformj if 2 separated by a hard septum. — Trees; leaves 

 imparipinnate, leaflets alternate or ahnost opposite; flowers usually showy, yellow, 

 rarely white or violet, in terminal or axiHary, simple or compound racemes; bracts 

 and bracteoles small, caducous, 



1» Pterocarpus oflficinalis .Ta(^(i.'i 



(Urban, 290,) 



Trees 25 to 30 meters high; leaflets 5 to 9, alternate, ovate or oblong, acuminate, 

 shiny, 5 to 10 cm. long, 3 to 5.2 cm. wide, the veins on both sides conspicuous, sub- 

 coriaceous, glabrous, the petiolules G nnn. long; flowers in compound racemes, yellow^; 

 calyx strongly oblicpie, 4 to 5 mni. deep, turning black in drying; corolla 1.3 cm, 

 long; standard violet-colored on the edge, at the middle; pod glabrous, stipitate, 

 corky-rugose, with a very oblique axis, 1-seeded, surrounded by a narrow wing, 

 which is less distinct on the carinal edge, 3 to 5 cm. in diameter; wing 6.5 to 8.5 nnn. 



broad on vexillar edge. 



Near Bayamon in sw^ampy localities; Sierra de Lnquillo, in the woods of Mount 

 Jimenez; near Mayagucz.— Jamaica ((.irisebach), Guadelotipe, Dominica, St. Lucia, 

 St. Vincent, Trinidad. Tropical America, Central America. 



From Pterocarpus oJJicinaUsj the only species found in Porto Rico, is obtained a 

 kind of kino kn<nvn as "American dragon's blood." The tree is tapped and the sap 

 cnllofted, which when tlried in the s\m forms a hard mass that is used in medicine 

 as an a^-^tringent and in tanning and dyeing. Large pieces of the substance are dark 

 red, while smaller pieces are transparent. 



Local name, palo de polio. 



48. LONCHOCARPUS IL B. K. 



Loiichocarpus II. B. K. Nov. Gen. Sc Sp. 6: 383. 1823. 

 SphuidoloblumXoG, Linnaea 11: 417. 1837. 

 Nmroscapha Tul. Ann, Sc. Nat. II. 20: 137. 1843. 



Calyx often cupuliform, truncate, the teeth very short or wanting; standard orbicu- 

 lar, obovate, more rarely oblong, with 2 auricles at the ba*^e above the claw; wings 

 obliquely oblong or falcate, plightly adhering to the keel above the claw; keel arcuate 



fl Cook and Collins, p. 22G, as Pterocarpus draco. 



