266 XLVIT. § CHSALPINIEZ (OLIVER). | Poinciana. 
dehiscing longitudinally. Ovary sessile or narrowed below,  -ovulate 5 
style elongate, filiform; stigma terminal ciliolate, but slightly dilated. 
Legume 2-valved, compressed, coriaceous, several- or many-seeded. 
Seeds compressed ellipsoidal or oblong ; cotyledons plane, the width 
of the larger diameter of the seed within a thin layer of albumen, cordate 
at base embracing the short thick radicle—Unarmed trees. Leaves 
bipinnate ; leaflets small, numerous. Stipelle 0. Flowers handsome, 
orange or scarlet, corymbose at the ends of the branches. 
A small genus, confined to India, Madagascar, and Nile land. 
1. P. elata, Linn.; DC. Prod. ii. 484. Branches glabrous or the 
herbaceous extremities puberulous. Pinne usually in 4—6 pairs ; leaflets 
10-14-jugate, oblong or oblanceolate-oblong, obtuse or retuse, glabrous 
or on first expansion silky-pubescent, veinless, subsessile, {—} in. long. 
Flowers large in terminal corymbs or from the upper axils, pedicels 
short, with the calyx puberulous or minutely silky, }—14 in. long; bracts 
lanceolate or ovate-oblong, very early caducous. Calyx-lobes coria- 
ceous oblong or oblanceolate, pointed or obtuse, deciduous. Petals rather 
longer than the caiyx, with a broadly obovate or rotundate-cuneate 
crisped lamina narrowed into a distinct claw. Filaments much exceed- 
ing the petals, 2-4 in. long, pilose below. Style elongate, filiform. 
Young fruit in our specimens 4—7 in. long, 31 in. broad, linear-oblong 
or narrowly oblanceolate below to the persistent calyx-tube, straight or 
sinuous, narrowed above to the persistent style-base. Seeds much com- 
pressed elliptic-oblong, smooth. Cesalpinia elata, Sw. Obs. 166. 
Wile Land. Abyssinia, Roth! Nubia (Schweinf. et Asch. Enum.). 
An infusion of the seeds, Dr. Roth states, is used as a purgative. The same plant 
extends eastward through Arabia into India. ‘ 
The showy and nearly allied P. regia, Boj. (Bot. Mag. 2884), a native of Madagascar, 
is frequently planted in towns and villages on the eastern coast and in Angola. ‘The 
leaves are 1-2 feet long, with 8-20 pairs of multifoliolate pinne. Petals 2-3 times 
Jonger than the calyx-lobes with an orbicular lamina and long claw. Stamens rela- 
tively shorter than in P. elata, shorter than or nearly equalling the petals. Legume 
about 4 in. long according to the original description, 6-8 in. Dr. Kirk, while spect- 
mens in the Kew Museum are about 2 ft. in length. 
8. PARKINSONIA, Linn. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant. i. 570. 
Calyx divided nearly to the base into 5 subequal membranous slightly 
imbricate segments. Petals 5, spreading. Stamens 10, free, scarcely 
declinate ; filaments pilose at base; anthers uniform, elliptical, dehis- 
cing longitudinally. Ovary narrowed to the base, 8—15-ovulate ; style 
subfiliform, recurved in bud ; stigma terminal, minute. Legume narrow- 
linear narrowed to each end, usually constricted between the subdistant 
longitudinally-disposed seeds, thinly coriaceous, longitudinally reticu- 
late-striate, scarcely or not at all dehiscent. Seeds 1-6 or 8 oblong 
or subcylindrical, albuminous.—Shrub or small tree. Leaves 2-pinnate 5 
pinne 2-4, with the rachis much elongate, flattened, bearing nume- 
rous small oblong or linear opposite or scattered leaflets which are 
occasionally abortive; common petiole very short or obsolete, spime- 
