tn HORTUS JA]SIAICR>:SI-S. c-ACOONS- 



shorter tlmn the stamens ; stigma truncated ; the pericarp is a long legume^ with 

 several transverse partitions ; seeds many, ro.mdish, of various forms. Ons; 

 ~ Many male flowers full ofi\ some are female ot/'}&)\i hermaphrodite in the diJfereJit 

 spiCies of this genus, ami no part of itsfriutifiratioyi inconstant. 



SCANDENS. CLIMBING.. 



Pliaseolus maximus perennisy folio decom-posito, loho niaximo confortol 

 Sioane, v, 1, p. 178. Gigalovjuni. Scandens claviculum ; foliis 

 bipinnatis ovatis ; siiiqua maxima. Browne, p. 362. 



Unarmed, leaves conjugate, terminated by a tendril ; leaflets two-paired. 



This is frequent in all the upiand vallies and woodlands on the North side of Jamaica. 

 It climbs up the tallest trees, and spreads itself in e^'-ery direction l)y means of its cirrhi 

 or claspers, so as to form a complete arbour, and to cover the space of an English acre 

 from one root. This circumstance has a had effect on the trees or bushes so shaded. 

 Light, air, and rain (so necessary for all plants) being shut out, the leaves drop off, 

 the tree gradually rots, and the limbs lall down by the weight of this parasite. 



The roots of this pltuit run s'uperficially under the ground or herbage. The trunk is 

 seldom tliicker than a man's tbigh, and sends off many branches, with numerous shining 

 green leaves, each of wljich terminates in a tendril or clasper, that serves to fasten it 

 to trees oi-bushes. Piiinas four-paired, petioled, oblo:ig, blunt at top, emarginate, 

 nerved, smooth on both sides, shining. Tendrils long, upright, bifid at the end. - 

 The flower spikes are from -the axillai : they-are slender, and the florets on them small 

 arad numerous. Petals five, erect, oblong, green ; filaments twenty to twenty-four, 

 yellow, shorter than the corolla, and springing from its base ; anthers globular. The 

 pod is perhaps the largest and longest of any other in the world, being sometimes eight 

 or nine feet in length, five inches broad, jointed, and containing ten or fifteen seeds. 

 Tlrese seeds are brown, shining, iilattened, \ery hard, and called cacoons. These are 

 the same mentioned in the Philosophical Transactions, N 222, p. 298, by Sir H. Sioane, 

 as being thrown ashore on the Hebrides or Orkney's. This happens in the following 

 manner: The" seeds or beans fall into the rivers, and are conveyed to the sea. The 

 trade winds carry them westward till they tall into the Gulf stream, which forces them 

 northward along the coast of America and the Bahama islands. As the winds blow fre- 

 quent and strong from Americia, these seeds are driven to the eastward, till at lennt^ 

 they are thrown, ashore and left with the tide as aforesaid. 



Tb.is bean, after being long soaked in water, is boiled and eaten by some negroes ; 

 but in general there seems to be uo other use made of it than as a sort of snuff' box. 



The following observations are from the manuscript of Mr. Anthony Robinson : 

 *' In August, near Liguanea barracks, I examined the male blossoms of this enormous 

 climber with a microscope. The anthers were oblong and didymous, on the upper 

 ends was ptaeed one globose transpaFcnt gland ; the base of th& pedicels is giandulous ; 

 the gland of the common pedicd, arcuated ; from each side of its. base is- produced a 

 slender linear stipule embracing the stem ; the base of the gland, after running half.an 

 inch up the stem, j,)ins the gland that supports the peduncle. The pedunclels naked 

 about one inch from the gland upwards ; at the base of the spike are two or three small 

 glands and smooth, terminating in a suhulated stipule ; and the spike itself is beset 

 with a number of these stipules without glands. The leaves are bipinnated, consisting 

 of two pairs of wings placed ujion a common midrib, which terminates in twoxiaricles 



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