Prosopis LEGUMINOS/E 129 



Hitchcock; Long Mt. road, 250ft.; Hope; Harris I Fl. Jam. 5667, 6980, 

 8525. West tropical and subtropical N. and S. America. Browne states 

 that it was " introduced from the main continent, and thrives very 

 luxuriantly in many parts of the low lands." There is no specimen in 

 Sloane's Herbarium. 



A glabrous shrub or tree, 15-40 ft. high, generally with axillary spines. 

 Leaflets, 20-15 (6-30) pairs, oblong to linear, 5-13 mm. 1., 1*5-4 mm. br. 

 (continental specimens often much longer) ; rhachis with sessile glands. 

 Spikes 5-10 cm. 1., 3 to 4 together, densely crowded with small yellow 

 fragrant flowers. ( 'alyx a little over 1 mm. 1. Petals woolly inside near 

 the apex, 3 mm. 1. Stamens about 4 mm. 1. Pod generally one in each 

 ;-pike, curved or nearly straight. 15-20 (5-) cm. 1., 6-16 mm. br., at length 

 6-8 mm. thick, with sweetish pulp. 



' The wood is heavy, hard, and close grained, although not very strong 

 ... It is almost indestructible in contact with the soil, and is valued for 

 fence posts and railway ties ... It is sometimes used in furniture, for the 

 fellies of heavy wheels, and for the pavement of city streets ; and it affords 

 the best and often the only fuel in the regions where it grows, burning 

 slowly with a bright clear flame. It produces valuable charcoal, but is 

 unsuited to the generation of steam on account of the destructive action 

 upon boilers of the tannin which it contains . . . An astringent decoction 

 obtained by boiling chips of the heart-wood may be used to check diarrhoea 

 or dysantery, or by infusion to purify muddy or stagnant water ... A gum 

 resembling gum arabic exudes from its stems " (Sargent).] 



40. NEPTUNIA Lour. 



Herbs. Leaflets small. Stipules obliquely cordate. Flower- 

 heads on axillary peduncles ; upper flowers hermaphrodite ; 

 lower male or neuter with small calyx and corolla and 10 petaloid 

 long-exserted staminodes. Stamens generally 10, exserted. Pod 

 obliquely oblong, short, broad, flat, 2-valved, more or less divided 

 between the seeds. 



Species 8. natives of North and South America, Asia and 

 tropical Australia, of which one, a floating plant, is found wide- 

 spread throughout the tropics. 



1. N. oleraeea Lour. FL Coch. 654 (1790); Griseb. Fl.. Br. 

 W. Ind. 217 ; Benih. in FL Bras. xv. pt. 2, 290, t. 78 & in Trans 

 Linn. Soc. xxv. 383. Mimosa lacustris Numb. & Bonpl. PL 

 J'lquin. i. 55, t. 16 (1806). (Fig. 40.) 



Ponds, neat: Hodges Pen, St. Elizabeth, Purdie ! Tropical America, 

 Asia, and Africa. 



Glabrous licrbs, with spongy stem frequently floating by means of 

 hollow swellings, and branching and rooting so as to cover shallow waters 

 or swamps; stem swellings 1-2 cm. thick. Leaves 5-7 cm. 1. ; rhat 

 without a gland. Pinnte in the upper part of the petiole, in 2 or :) pairs, 

 4-5 cm. 1. Leaflets in 8-20 pairs, linear-oblong, 6-12 nun. 1. Sti/>ules 

 broadly and obliquely cordate, acute, 5-7 mm. 1. 1'fdund, < axillary, 

 7-13 cm. 1. in flower, longer in fruit. Bracts, 1 or 2 about the middle of 

 the peduncle, ovate, 4-12 mm. 1. Fluir, r-ln-tnl^ white, changing to yellow, 

 ellipsoidal in bud, becoming hemispherical in flower, with numerous 

 sterile flowers radiating from the base. Sterile flowers with small or 

 obsolete calyx, 5 petals, 2-4 mm. 1., and 10 narrowly linear-lanceolate 

 IV. K 



