TA'.rARtvD HORTUS JAMAICENSIS. S-'3 



the brim cut into five acute points, which spread open like those of common jasmine* 

 Marfj/u's Milter. 



TAMARIND TREE. TAMARINDUS". 



Cl. 16, OR. I. Monadelphia Iriandria. Nat. OR. Lomentacr.r. 



This name is derived from tamar, the Arabic name for the date. 



Gen. chap,. Calyx a one-leafed perianth ; tube turbinate, compressed, attenuated 

 below, permanent, mouth oblique ; border four-parted deciduous ; segments 

 ovate, acute, flattishj refiexed, coloured, the' upper and lower a little wider : co- 

 rolla, three petals, ovate, concave, acute, crenate, waved, reflexed, length of 

 the calyx, inserted into the mouth <>f the tube ; the two lateral ones a little longer : 

 stamens three filaments, inserted into the orifice of the calyx at the void sinus, 

 length of the corolla, awl-shaped, united below up t > the middle, bowed towards 

 the corolla : anthers ovate, incumbent, large. Threads five (rudiments of sta- 

 mens), alternate with the filaments, and united below but separate above, bristle- 

 shaped, beaded, very short, the two lateral enes lower than the otheis : bristles 

 two, springing from "the calyx below the filaments, aid incumbent on them, very 

 small. The pistil has a germ, oblong, compressed, curved in, placed on a pedi- 

 cel fastened to the bottom of the calyx, and growing longitudinally to its tube under 

 the back, beyond the tube with the upper margin villose-; rtyle awl-shaped, ascend- 

 in;;, pubescent on the lower margin, a little longer than tlie stamens; stigma 

 thickened obtuse : the pericarp is an oblong legume, compressed, blunt with a. 

 point, swelling at the seeds, covered with a double rind, the outer dry and brittle, 

 the inner membranaceous, a soft pulp between both ; one-celled, not operiing : 

 Seeds few, angular roundish, piano-compressed, shining, hard. There is only 

 one species. 



I.NDICA. INDIAN. 



Difj'usus foliolis pinnatis pinnis distichis alternis. Browne, p. 125. 

 Tamarindus. Sloane, v 2, p. 45. 



This tree is a native of both Indies, where it grows to a very large sizej the stem co- 

 vered with a brown bark, and dividing into many branches, which spread wide in every 

 direction, with a very thick an I beautiful foliage. The leaves are pinnate, composed of 

 sixteen or eighteen pairs of leaflets, without a single one at the end (Houreiro says 

 they sometimes have one), they are ovate-oblong, quite entire, smooth, sessile, of a 

 bright green, spreadin > during the day, but closing, so as to lie over each other in the 

 night ; they have an acid taste. The flowers come out from the sides of the branches, 

 on a long upright common peduncle, six or more together, in loose bunches : corolla 

 yellow, with red veins ; the three petals ovate-lanceolate, unequal, spreading. Par- 

 tial peduncles half an inch long, with a joint, by which the flower turns inwards. The 

 pods are thick and compressed, from two to five inches in length, with two, three, 

 or four, seeds. Swartz describes the calyx as four-ieaved ; the three petals unequal, 

 spreading, deciduous, with a void cleft as it were for two others ; the two upper ones 

 the length of the calyx, ovate, acute, and channelled at the base, the middie one 

 smaller and cowled ; three fertile filaments and seven very short barren ones; anthers 



oblong, 



