rind (Grenadines, Trinidad) ; French tamarind, 

 guango (British (xuiana) ; monlveypod (Hawaii) ; 

 arbre a phiie (French) ; gouannegoul (Haiti) ; 

 samana ( Guadeloupe ) . 



Botanical stnoxtms. — Samanea saman (Jacq.) 

 Merrill, Enferolohium snman (Jacq.) Prain. 



The Spanish word "saman" and the specific name 

 are from the South American aboriginal name. 

 Several origins of the English word rainti-ee and 

 its French equivalent have been given. Early 

 travelei-s reported that the trees mysteriously pro- 



duced rain at night and would not sleep under- 

 neath. Others observed the grass to be greener 

 beneath the trees during droughts. Another ex- 

 planation was that the rain was excreta of cicada 

 insects inhabiting the trees. More plausible is 

 that the leaflets close up at night and in cloudy 

 and rainy weather, indicating the approach of rain 

 and also letting rain fall through the crown to the 

 grass beneath. The Spanish name dormilon re- 

 fers also to the movements of the leaflets suggest- 

 ing sleep at night. 



LEGUME FAMILY (LEGUMINOSAE) 



MIMOSA SUBFAMILY (MIMOSOIDEAE; MIMOSACEAE) 



70. Bayahonda, mesquite Prosopis juliflora (Sw.) DC* 



A small flat-topped spiny tree or shrub of di-y 

 areas recognized by: (1) slightly zigzag green to 

 brown twigs with paired stout brown or gray 

 spines at the enlarged nodes; (2) leaves twice pin- 

 nate (bipinnate) with 1 or sometimes 2 pairs of 

 lateral axes (pinnae), each with 12-25 pairs of al- 

 most stalkless narrow leaflets i/4-% i'^ch long; (3) 

 many small pale yellow flowers about %6 inch 

 long, crowded and almost stalkless in narrow 

 drooping clusters 2-4 inches long; and (4) light 

 yellowish-bi-own, flattened but thick pods 4—9 

 inches long and %6-^/^ inch wide, and not splitting 

 023en. 



Deciduous, 20-30 feet high, with a short crooked 

 trunk to liA feet in diameter, and with broad 

 crown of very thin spreading foliage. The gray 

 or brown bark is rough and furrowed, thick and 

 becoming slightly shaggy, the inner bark yellow- 

 ish, fibrous, and slightly bitter. The spines (stip- 

 ules) are 14-I inch or more in length. 



The leaves, mostly borne on very short twigs 

 along larger ones, often are crowded though actu- 

 ally alternate. They are 3-6 inclies long, with 

 slender green leaf axes. Blades are narrow (lin- 

 ear-oblong), Vie-Vs inch wide, rounded at both 

 ends or minutely pointed at apex, slightly oblique 

 at base, thin, and dull blue green on both sides. 



Flower clusters (spikes) are lateral, often on 

 twigs back of leaves. Flower buds are yellow 

 green. The greenish-yellow tubular calyx is less 

 than y^g inch long, bell-shaped, and 5-toothed ; 

 there are 5 narrow greenish-yellow petals i/g inch 

 long, hairy on inside ; 10 spreading yellow-orange 

 stamens with brown anthers, less than %6 inch 

 long; and pistil %6 inch long with hairy light 

 green ovary and slender whitish curved style. 



The pods are about %6 inch thick and slightly 

 cui-ved or straight. The brown seeds I/4 inch long 

 are imbedded in a whitisji slightly sweet pulp, 

 which can be eaten. Flowering and fruiting 

 through much of the year, chiefly in the summer 

 and fall. 



The thin sapwood is light yellow, and the heart- 

 wood yellowish to dark brown. The wood is mod- 



166 



erately hard, heavy (speciflc gravity 0.8), tough 

 and strong, easy to work, resistant to decay, and 

 durable in the ground but susceptible to attack by 

 drywood termites. 



Used in Puerto Rico only for fenceposts and 

 crossties. Elsewhere the wood has served for 

 vehicle parts, rural carpentry, fui-niture, and 

 formerly even paving blocks. It is a superior fuel 

 and makes charcoal of high quality. An amber 

 gum resembling gum arable exudes from the trunk 

 and, when dissolved in water, becomes a mucilage. 

 The bark has been employed in tanning. 



The nutritious pocls are browsed by livestock 

 and eaten bj' children. Cattle are partly responsi- 

 ble for the extensive invasion of pastures by this 

 tree. Indians of Mexico and southwestern United 

 States ground the pods into meal as a staple food 

 for baking and for mixing with water as a bever- 

 age. This is an important honey plant, and bees 

 commonly are seen around the flowers, which are 

 not fragrant. 



Naturalized in tliickets and dry forests in the 

 dry limestone and dry coastal regions of southern 

 Puerto Rico, commonly invading pastures. Oc- 

 casionally planted for ornament. Also in Mona, 

 St. Croix, St. Thomas, and Tortola. 



Public forests. — Aguirre, Guanica, Susiia. 



Municipalities where especially common. — 

 12, 38. 



Range. — Including its geographic varieties na- 

 tive from southwestern United States (Texas to 

 Kansas, Utah, and California) south through 

 Mexico and Central America to Colombia and 

 Venezuela and perhaps naturalized southward. 

 Through West Indies, a])parently introduced and 

 naturalized, from Bahamas and Cuba to Bar- 

 bados and Trinidad and in Bonaire, Curagao, and 

 Aruba. Also naturalized in Hawaii and Old 

 World tropics. 



This species seems to be very much at home in 

 Puerto Rico and other islands of the West Indies 

 even though not native. The locality of the bo- 

 tanical type specimen is Jamaica, though an 



