328 BENTHAM ON MIMOSEffi. 



is perhaps on the whole nearer to the C cBsalpiniece in gene- 

 ral, than are either of the other genera of Parhiece. In 

 habit it is considerably removed from any, unless perhaps 

 some affinity may be observed with some Gleditschice. There 

 is, however, the genus Erijthrophleum of Afzelius, from the 

 same country as the Fillcea, which from the few words of 

 Brown in his appendix to Oudney ( Verm. Schr. v. iv. p. 55.)i 

 and the short characters given by Don {Gen. Si/st.), and 

 copied into Endlicher's Genera, must be very near to it. As 

 I have not seen the plant, and cannot from the above sources 

 state any point in which it differs from Fill<xa, I here omit 

 it as a separate genus ; but should the two ultimately prove 

 to be one and the same, the name of Fillcea must give way 

 to the older one o^ Erytliroplileimi. 



II. Parkia. i?. Br. 



Calyx cylindraceus limbo bilabiato labio superiore bifido, 

 inferiore trifido, aestivatione imbricativa. Petala 5, medio 

 coalita v. libera, aestivatione subimbricata. Stamina 10, 

 perigyna, basi monadelpha. Anthers non glanduliferas. 

 Mass£e pollinis in quoque loculo biseriatse, subdefinitae. 

 Ovarium glabrum. Legumen stipitatum, lineare v. oblon- 

 gum, compressiusculum, valvulis crasso-coriaceis, intus pulpa 

 semina obtegente farctum Arbores. Folia bipinnata, peti- 

 ole pauci-glanduloso, pinnis foliolisque numerosissimis. Pe- 

 dunculi axillares v. racemosi, longissimi, penduli. Flores ad 

 apicem pedunculi densissime capitato-spicati, numerosissimi, 

 superiores hermaphroditi, inferiores masculi. 



1. Parkia higlohosa, pinnis 16 — 40-jugis, receptaculo flo- 

 rum oblongo-clavato. — Tropical Asia and Africa, and thence 

 carried out by the Negroes to tropical America. 



As far as I have seen, the distinctions between the speci- 

 mens from various parts of Asia, and from tropical Africa, 

 are too slight and variable, to serve as characters of species. 

 The petiolar gland appears to be convex or concave, accord- 

 ing to the age of the leaf: its being double or single is pro- 

 bably accidental, and the precise number, both of pinnae and 



