AMERICAN SENNA, 467 
curved and beaked. Legume two-valved.—The 
species Marilandica has eight or nine pairs of leaf- 
ets, which are oblong-lanceolate, and mucronate ; 
an obovate gland on the petiole. Racemes axillary 
and terminal ; legumes linear and curved. 
Class Decandria, order Monogynia. Natural 
orders Lomentacee, Linn. Leguminose, Juss. 
The stems, which grow in bunches and often 
attain the height of five or six feet, are round, 
striated, and invested with a few scattered hairs. 
Petioles compressed, channelled above, bearing 
from eight to ten pairs of leafets, which are ob- 
long, smooth, somewhat hairy at the edges, pale 
on the under side, supported by short crooked 
pedicels, and mucronated with a rigid bristle at 
the end. On the base of the petiole is a large 
ovate pedicelled gland, of a shining green, ter- 
minating in a dark point at top, which is some- 
times double. Each petiole is also furnished with 
a pair of linear-subulate, ciliate, deciduous stip- 
ules, The flowers grow in axillary racemes, ex- 
tending quite to the top of the stem. ‘The pe- 
duneles are slightly furrowed, pedicels supported 
by bractes like the stipules, and marked with mi- 
nute, blackish, glandular hairs. Leaves of the 
« calyx yellow oval, obtuse, the lateral ones longest. 
Petals five, bright yellow, spatulate, concaye, very 
