27 



MIMOSA ARABICA. 



MIMOSA LEUCOPHLOEA. 



28 



Branches numerous, stand in every direction, yet it gives but a 



scanty shade ; owing to the smallness of the leaves. 



Thorns stipulary, spreading, long, sharp, white. 



Leaves twice-feather'd, from two to three inches long. Feathers from 



four to six pair, opposite, about an inch long. Leaflets from 

 ten to twenty pair, linear-oblong, minute, smooth. 



Glands uncertain, except between the lower pair of feathers, where 



there is always a large one. 



Peduncles axillary, several, jointed and bracted above the middle, 



about an inch long, each ending in a globular head of fragrant 

 yellow corollets. 



Filaments numerous, distinct, inserted round the germ. 



Legume pendulous, from six to ten inches long, compress'd, pointed, 



necklace-form, but not articulated, covered with soft white 

 down. Receptacle chaffy. Chaff wedge-form. 



Seeds from ten to fifteen. 



This is the most useful, and at the same time the most common 

 species ; it grows to a pretty large tree, and abundantly over every 

 part of India. A low, stiff, uncultivated soil is what suits it best. 

 Is in flower most part of the year. 



Besides yielding the greatest quantity of gum arabic, the wood 

 is one of the most useful in India ; being of a light brownish 

 colour, strong, tough, and durable ; the best knees and crooked 

 timber in ship building, are made of it. It is also esteemed for 

 wheel carriages, and many other purposes. 



The exterior bark is of a dark, blackish colour, cracked in various 

 directions, and inert ; but the interior is fibrous, pretty thick, of a 

 reddish colour, and a most powerful simple astringent. It is em- 

 ployed to tan leather, and to dye various shades of brown, with salt 

 of steel. A strong decoction makes pretty good ink. 



The unripe legumes possess still more astringency, and make 

 excellent ink with salt of steel. 



Lime water added to an infusion of the bark deepens the colour, 

 and causes a copious precipitation of brown feculse. 



Spirits acquire from it a deep, clear, brown colour, which bears 

 mixing with water, without decomposition, but it possesses less 

 astringency than the infusion in water. 



The flowers communicate to water a bright yellow, which al- 

 kalies deepen, and acids lower. 



The gum might be collected in large quantities at an easy rate, 

 and would find employment for poor people during the dry season ; 

 a period, when there is little or no work for them. The natives mix 



Glands: one between the lower and exterior, one or two pair of 



feathers. 

 Panicles large, terminal, composed of sub-erect racemes of short pedi- 



cel'd, small, globular, heads, of pale yellow, fragrant corollets. 

 Peduncles and Pedicels downy, 

 Bractes small, oval. 

 Filaments numerous, distinct. 

 Legume linear, compress'd, generally curved in form of a sickle, 



obtuse, smooth, from four to six inches long, and half an inch 



broad. 

 Seeds from twelve to twenty. 



A better looking tree than the last ; it grows fully as large, or 

 larger, with a straighter trunk, and sub-erect or spreading branches: 

 the bark is of a whitish colour and smooth. It is a native of dry 

 mountainous countries. Flowering time the wet season. 



The wood of this species is less useful than that of the last ; but 

 the bark is very astringent, and the natives distil an ardent spirit 

 from it. The process is as follows : the fresh bark is cut into small 

 pieces, or bruised, and with a little coarse sugar, and toddy (palm 

 juice) put into vessels with water to ferment ; when the fermenta- 

 tion is at a proper height, which practice alone can teach, the liquor 

 is committed to the still, and a certain quantity of spirit drawn off. 



151. 



CURCUMA MONTANA. 



Roots perennial, consisting of conical tubercles, enveloped in the 



remaining sheaths of the leaves, with large fleshy fibres from 



their base. 



Leaves radical, three or four, petioled: petioles from eight to twelve 



inches long, enveloped in a few sheaths, forming something 

 like a stem ; leaves oval, pointed, beautifully veined, smooth, 

 from eight to twelve inches long, and from five to six broad. 



Spike rises from the centre of the petioles ; the peduncle is of their 



length, and involved in its proper sheaths. 



Bractes numerous, below roundish, above oblong: the lower half 



of the back of the inner two are united to the margins of the 



* 



next without, forming a sack, which contains from two to four 

 flowers, each with a smaller wedge-form membranous proper 

 bracte ; the superior bractes are large, waved, rose-colour'd, 

 and generally without flowers. 



it with the cake of the seeds of Sesamum (Gingely) left after the oil Corol : tube widening, somewhat bell'd ; border double: exterior 



is expressed, which they use as an article of diet. It is also much 



in use amongst the dyers, chintz painters, &c. 



Cattle are very fond of the green legumes and tender tops of the 



branches. 



The natives sometimes substitute a decoction of the bark for that 



of soap nuts, or of the pods of Mimosa saponaria, to wash their 

 heads with. 



three - parted : divisions equal, entire; interior two-lip'd: 



upper lip erect, three-cleft ; under lip entire, roundish : border 



waved, a little notch'd. 

 Filament no other than the middle segment of the upper lip of the 



interior border of the corol. Anthers two, linear, the under 



point of each ends in a long sharp spur. 

 Germ below. Style: its base embraced with two nectarial bodies. 



Stigma large, globular, two-lip'd. 



It grows in moist places amongst the mountains ; flowering time 



150. 



MIMOSA LEUCOPHLOEA. 



the rainy season 



Telia (or white) Tooma of theTelingas. 





Explanation of the Figures. 



rh 



Leaves twice-feather'd, from three to four inches long. Feathers from 



eight to twelve pair, opposite, about an inch long. Leaflets 

 from twenty to thirty pair, minute, linear-oblong. 



A. Three of the large or exterior bractes ; the outer one is split 



from the other two, and thrown down to shew the flowers and 

 inner bractes. 



B. The germ and calyx [a) laid open, to shew the two bodies, 



which embrace the base of the style. 



