LEGUMINOS^ 



539 



many-flowered heads, on axillary solitary or fascicled peduncles ; calyx campanulate, 

 o-toothed; corolla funnel-shaped, of 5 petals united for more than half their length; 

 stamens generally 12-30, exserted; filaments filiform, united at the base into a tube 

 free from the corolla; anthers minute, ovate, versatile; ovary sessile, contracted into 

 a slender subulate style, with a minute terminal stigma. Legume broad, straight, 

 compressed, submembranaceous, the valves at maturity separating from the undivided 

 margins, continuous within, their outer layer thin and papery, dark-colored, the inner 

 rather thicker, pale yellow. Seeds compressed, transverse, suspended by long slen- 

 der funicles, the hilum near the base; seed-coat thin, crustaceous; radicle slightly 

 exserted. 



Lysiloma with about ten species inhabits tropical America from southern Florida 

 and the Bahama Islands, the West Indies. Mexico and Lower California, to Central 

 America and Bolivia. Several of the species produce valuable timber. 



The generic name, from Xixris and Awfia, refers to the separation of the valves 

 from the margins of the legume. 



1. Lysiloma Bahamensis, Benth. Wild Tamarind. 



(Lysiloma latisiliqua, Silva N. Am. iii. 129.) 



Leaves 4'-5' long, glabrous or sometimes slightly puberulous, with slender peti- 

 oles V long, marked near the middle with an elevated gland, and 2-5 pairs of short- 

 stalked 40-80-foliolate pinnae; their petioles enlarged and slightly glandular at the 



fT^-u-i+6 



base; stipules foUaceous, ovate or ovate-oblong, acuminate, auriculate and semi- 

 cordate at the base, ^' long, usually caducous; leaflets obliquely ovate or oblong, 

 obtuse or acute, more or less united at the base by the greater development of one 

 of the sides, sessile or short-petiolulate, entire, reticulate-veined, light green, paler 

 on the lower than on the upper surface, ^ -|' long and ^'-\' wide. Flo-wers about 

 Y long, in heads appearing in Florida early in April, coated before the flowers open 

 with thick pale tomentum, and after the exsertion of the stamens |' in diameter, on 

 peduncles |'-iy long, solitary or fascicled in the axils of upper leaves, their bracts 

 and bractlets acute, membranaceous, caducous; calyx broadly o-toothed, pilose on the 



