PERKINS THE LEGUMINOSAE OF PORTO RICO. 163 



20. KEAMERIA Loefl. 



Krameria Loefl. Iter Hisp. 195. 1758. 



Calyx with 4 or 5 subequal, imbricate, more or less corollaceous segments, the outer 

 one somewhat larger than the others; petals 4 or 5, narrower than the calyx segments, 

 the upper ones subequal, long-clawed, sometimes free, sometimes connate, the middle 

 one often folded, the 2 lower ones reduced to thick, short, fleshy scales; stamens 3 or 4, 

 hypogynous, the anthers basifixed, opening by an oblique introrse pore; ovary sessile 

 with 2 ci ^lateral, hanging, anatropous seeds; style cylindrical, pointed ; legume globose 

 or somewhat compressed, aculeate or weakly spinous, indehiscent; seeds exalbumi- 

 nous. Shrubs or herbs, often decumbent and silky-tomentose ; leaves simple or rarely 

 digitate (leaflets 3); flowers purple, axillary, sometimes in leafy racemes; bracts 2, 

 at or above the middle of the peduncle; filaments free, or connate half their length. 



1. Krameria ixina L. 



(Urban, 277.) 



Plant 0.5 to 1 meter high; stem erect, branched, woody below, villous-pubescent; 

 leaves ellipticahlanceolate, mucronate; flowers racemose, purple or dark purple; 

 pedicels short, bibracteolate about the middle; sepals 4, pubescent externally; posterior 

 petals connected at the base; stamens 4; spines of pericarp glochidiate. 



Between Ponce and Guayanilla, on calcareous rocks of the coast; near Ponce, on the 

 harbor and at Pefion; near Guanica, in littoral thickets at Salinas and on the declivities 

 at Punta de los Pescadores; near Cabo Rojo, in forests near the seashore. Haiti, St. 

 Thomas, Antigua (Grisebach), Curacao (Vahl), Colombia. 



21. PARKINSONIA L. 



Parlcinsonia L. Sp. PI. 1 : 375. 1753. 



Calyx with a short receptacle and 5 subequal, membranous, slightly imbricate seg- 

 ments; petals 5, nearly equal, the posterior one the widest; stamens 10, their filaments 

 villous at the base; ovary free, in the fundus of the receptacle, substipitate, multiovu- 

 late; style filiform; stigma small, terminal; legume narrowly linear, narrowed to each 

 end, usually constricted between the subdistant seeds, scarcely or not at all dehiscent; 

 valves thinly coriaceous, longitudinally reticulate-striate; seeds oblong, longitudinally 

 disposed, albuminous. Trees or shrubs with thorny stipules; leaves bipinnate; com- 

 mon petiole very short, spine-pointed; pinnae 2 to 4, with the rachis much elongated, 

 flattened, bearing numerous, opposite or scattered, very small leaflets, which are occa- 

 sionally abortive; flowers yellow, in lax axillary racemes; bracts small, caducous; 

 bracteoles wanting. 



1. Parkinsonia aculeata L. 



(Urban, 277.) 



Small trees or shrubs; common petiole only 1 to 2 mm. long; pinnae 1 or 2-jugate; 

 secondary petioles winged, linear, acuminate, 1G to 36 cm. long; leaflets minute, 

 oblong or obovate, 4 to 5 mm. long, 1 to 2 mm. wide, blunt, the uppermost (or many) 

 abortive; flowers yellow, in lax axillary racemes, 9 to 16 cm. long; calyx 7 mm. high; 

 corolla suborbicular, 1 cm. in diameter; legume 8 to 9 cm. long, 1 cm. wide, constricted 

 between I he seeds. 



Near Fajardo on the seashore between Guayama and Guamani along roads; near 

 Mayaguez; near Quebradillas. Florida Keys, Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti, St. Thomas, St. 

 Croix, St. John (Eggers), St. Martin, St. Bartholomew (Stockholm Herbarium), 



