142 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 



Flowers and fruit, March to May. The pods are much eaten by cattle. According 

 to Hart (cited in Cook and Collins, p. 221) ' ' the tree gives a fine shade for ' Guinea grass ' 

 pastures and it is also an excellent one for planting in ordinary 'low-bite ' pastures, both 

 for the benefit of herbage and also as a shade for the cattle." 



Local name, saman. 



2. Pithecolobium arboreum (L.) Urb. 



(Urban, 264.) 



Forest tree 15 to 20 meters high, unarmed ; leaflets oblique, falcate-oblong, somewhat 

 obtuse, shining, dark green, 10 to 12 mm. long, 3 mm. wide; flowers whitish green in 

 globose heads; calyx 2.5 mm. long; corolla 6.6 mm. long; legume red, 7 to 8 cm. long, 

 7 mm. wide; seeds black. 



In woods near Bayamon; near Cayey at Las Cruces; near Utuado, in rocky districts 

 at Los Angeles; near Mayaguez; near Quebradillas. Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti, Mexico, 

 Central America. 



Local names, cojoba, cojobana. 



3. Pithecolobium unguis-cati (L.) Benth. 

 (Urban, 263.) 



Tree 3 to 5 meters high, armed ; leaflets obovate, orbicular or broadly oblong, strongly 

 oblique, obtuse, 4 to 5 cm. long, 1 to 3 cm. broad; flowers whitish, in elongated heads; 

 calyx 1 to 2 mm. long; corolla 6 to 7 mm. long; legume 10 to 12 cm. long, 7 mm. wide. 



On the coast near Fajardo; near Ponce at Tallaboa in thickets; near Guanica on 

 declivities at Punta de la Meseta; near Salinas de Cabo Rojo in woods on the coast. 

 South Florida (Chapman) and Keys, Bahama, Cuba (A. Richard), Jamaica, Haiti, St. 

 Thomas, St. Croix, St. John (Eggers), St. Bartholomew (Stockholm Herbarium), Bar- 

 buda, St. Kitts, Antigua (Grisebach), Guadaloupe, Les Saintes (Duss), Marie Galante 

 (do.), Dominica, Martinique, St. Lucia (Grisebach), St. Vincent (do.), Bequia, Mus- 

 tique (Kew Bull. no. 81, p. 250), Union (do.), Barbadoes, Grenada, Trinidad, Vene- 

 zuela, New Grenada. 



The bark of P. unguis-cati is a much-valued medicament, and it is this tree that 

 iurnishes the siliciferous wood of the Antilles. 



Local names, una de gato, rolon, black bead; near Guayanilla called "escambron 

 Colorado" (Cook and Collins). 



3. ALBIZZIA Duraz. 



Albizzia Duraz. Mag. Tosc. 3 4 : 11. 1772. 



Flowers usually 5-merous, hermaphrodite or more rarely polygamous; calyx tubular 

 or campanulate, toothed or shortly lobed; corolla funnel-formed; petals united one- 

 half their length or more; stamens indefinite, united at the base only or in a long- 

 exserted sheath; legume broadly linear, straight, flat, thin, indehiscent, or dehiscent 

 with 2 inelastic valves not contorted after dehiscence, continuous, without pulp. 

 Trees or shrubs unarmed; leaves bipinnate, leaflets small and numerous or few and 

 large; flowers white, rose, rarely purple, in globose heads or cylindrical spikes, axillary 

 or racemose toward the extremities. 



1. Albizzia lebbek (L.) Benth. 



(Urban, 264.) 



Tree, unarmed; pinnae 2 to 4-jugate; leaflets, 5 to 9-jugate, oval-oblong or oblong, 

 3 to 4 cm. long, 1 to 1.5 cm. wide, unequal sided, very obtuse, the petiole bearing an 



a For illustration see Cook and Collins, pi. 15, facing p. 70. 



