REPOKT ON THE BOTANY OF THE SOUTH-EASTERN MOLUCCAS. 145 



Timor Laut. — Almost cosmopolitan in the tropics, and, although essentially a seaside 

 plant in the Indian Archipelago and Polynesia, it reaches the Himalayas in India, as far 

 to the north-west as Kmnaon. Nadeaud states that it was the only spiny plant in Tahiti 

 before the arrival there of Europeans. The hard seeds are conveyed [in their light prickly 

 pods ?] long distances by oceanic currents, without losing the power of germinating. 

 Jouan (in Mum. Soc. Sci. Nat. Cherbourg, xi., 1865, p. 105) enumerates, probably by 

 mistake, the allied Ccpsalpinia honduc, Roxb. (Gudandina honduc, Linn.), and says that 

 it is as common in the Marquesas as brambles are in Europe. II. Mann (in Proc. Amer. 

 Acad., vii. p. 1G4) also records the latter from the Sandwich Islands, but the only speci- 

 mens in the Kew Herbarium from the Sandwich, Friendly, aud Society Islands are certainly 

 Casalpini'i honducella, from which Ccesalpinia honduc differs in having yellow seeds, 

 larger less hairy leaflets, and especially in having no conspicuous stipules. Ccesalpinia 

 honduc is a much rarer plant than Ccesalpinia honducella; the only Polynesian specimen 

 in the Kew Herbarium being from the Fijis and Norfolk Island. 



Cassia fistula, Linn. 



Cassia fistula, Linn.; Miq., Fl. InJ. Bat., i. 1, p. 89; Hook, f., FL Brit. TnJ., ii. p. 2G1 ; Benth. in 

 Trans. Linn. Soc. Lond., xxvii. p. 514. 



Ki ; Moa. — Mr Bentham regards this species, which is highly ornamental and com- 

 monly planted in tropical countries, as truly indigenous in the Archipelago and India, and 

 possibly, though not probably so, in Africa, and as introduced in America. It is another 

 instance of a widely dispersed tropical plant that does not reach Australia. Cassia com- 

 prises between three and four hundred species, varying in habit and duration from annual 

 herbs to gigantic trees, and generally spread over the tropical and subtropical regions of 

 both hemispheres, but most numerous in America. A few herbaceous species inhabit 

 North America, reaching New England and Illinois. 



Cassia alata, Linn. 



Cassia alata, Lit J. ; Miq., Fl. Ind. Bat., i. 1, p. 93; Hook, f., Fl. Brit. Ind., ii. p. 2CA ; Bentb. in 

 Trans. Linn. Soc. Lond., xxvii. p. 550. 



Timor Laut. — This species is now spread over Tropical Asia, Africa, and America, 

 but it is only in the last country that it is universal, and it is perhaps not indigenous in 

 the Old World. It has not been collected in Australia. 



Cassia javanica, Linn. 



Cassia javanica, Linn. ; Miq., Fl. Ind. Bat., i. 1, p. 90 ; Hook, f., Fl. Brit Ind., ii. p. 2G7 ; Benth. in 



Trans. Linn. Soc. Lond., xxvii. p. 517. 



Ki ; Timor Laut. — Amboina to Java, and perliaps the Malayan Peninsula. 



(bot. CHALL. EXP. PAKT III. — 1885.) C 19 



