FAMILIES OF FLOWERING PLANTS 



135 



There ar6 numerous ornamental plants belonging to this group, 

 though it is a matter for regret that most of them are scarcely hardy 

 enough to mthstand our temperate climate. Poinciana regia, the royal 

 Poinciana, together with many sj)ecies of Caesalpima, may be ranked 

 among the most showy of tropical trees, whether in flower or fruit (see 

 plate. Fig. 117). The large East Indian genus Bauhinia, consisting of 

 climbing woody shnibs with curiously bilobed leaves, has handsome 

 flowers, often of a delicate rose color. In our own country the redbud 

 or Judas-tree (Cercis) jdelds a 

 warm tone to the landscape in 

 early spring with its masses of 

 purple-pink flowers. 



Valuable balsams are obtained 

 from most of the species of Cojjai- 

 fera, while copal gum is derived 

 from some species of Hymenaea 

 and Trachylohium. A bitter bark 

 known as sassy-bark, is furnished 

 by the African red-water tree, Ery- 

 thropliloeum guineense; it is used 

 for medicinal purposes, and by the 

 natives, especially as an ordeal 

 bark. Various species of Cassia 

 yield the drug senna, while others 

 are ornamental shrubs. The tam- 

 arind {Tamarindus Indica) affords 

 a valuable addition to the tropical 

 dietary, the pulp from its pods 

 being utilized in all kinds of pre- 

 serves, though somewhat unduly 

 acid. The fruit of the carob-tree 

 (Ceratonia siliqua), native of Af- 

 rica, but naturalized in parts of ^'^S- "«• Kentucky coffee tree (Gymiioc/aiiits 

 ,1 T7I • 1 Ti 1 dioica); a, young flowering branch, b, seed pod. 



southern Europe, is also edible. After chesnut, buii. no. 20, Div. of Bot. u. s. Dep. 

 Finally, valuable timber is yielded of Agric. 



by several trees of this group, but particularly by various species of 

 Swartzia, natives of South America. The wood of these trees is very 

 hard and of a fine grain; it is known as Brazil-wood. Fig. 118 illus- 

 trates the Kentucky coffee tree {Gymnocladas dioica) of our own coun- 

 try. At the end of this family is placed by the German systematists a 

 somewhat anomalous genus, Krameria, consisting of about a dozen spe- 

 cies, ranging from the southwestern States to Chile. The flowers are 

 quite irregular, like those of some Cassias, and the fruit, although inde- 



