308 CALYCIFLOR.i:. 



Mimosa Saman, Jncq. Frag. Bot, 5. t. 9. — Inga Sainan, 

 Willd. IV. 1024. 



HAB. Common in Salt-ponds, St Catherine's. 



FL. April — October. 



A spreading tree, 40-50 feet in height: brandies at their 

 extremities angulose, velutino-pubescent. Leaves alternate, 

 bipinnate : pinnae 4-5-paired : leaflets of the terminal pinnae 6- 

 paired, diminishing gradually, so that those of the lowest pinnae 

 are only 2-paired ; the outermost pair of leaflets the largest ; 

 subsessile, rhomboideo-oblong, unequilateral, bluntly apiculated, 

 glabrous and shining above, incano-velutino-pubesceiit beneath : 

 common petiole anguloso-sulcated, pubescent, with a I'onndish 

 sessile depressed urceolate glandule between each pair of pinnae : 

 partial petioles subterete, with a sharp ridge above, pubescent, 

 bearing a small glandule between each pjiir of leaflets. Stipules 

 thickish, lanceolate, attenuated at the apex, blunt, deciduous. 

 Peduncles terminal, and in the axillae of the subterminal leaves, 

 4-8 together, 3-5 inches in length, subterete, anguloso-sulcated, 

 pubescent, each bearing a head of about 20 flowers. Flowers 

 crimson, subsessile, each furnished with a spathulate bractea, 

 hooded near the apex, deciduous. Calyx tubulose, infundibuli- 

 form, 5-fid, externally greenish and tomentulose ; divisions 

 blunt. Corolla less than twice the length of the calyx, 5-fid, 

 tubulose, slit on one side, externally yellowish, tomentulose ; 

 divisions blunt. Stamens oo, more than twice the length of 

 the floral coverings, delicately capillary, monadelphous at the 

 base, tinged towards the apex with crimson : anthers very small. 

 Ovary linear, greenish, glabrous : style longer than the stamens, 

 tinged with crimson : stigma simple. Legume about 9 inches 

 in length, linear, compressed, of brownish-black colour, corru- 

 gated, shining; sutures thickened: seeds each inclosed in a 

 pellicle, imbedded in a sweet amber-coloured gummy pulp, 

 about 20 in number, oblong, compressed, of a brownish colour. 



This is among the loftiest and most beautiful of its tribe. It 

 is originally a native of the Caraccas, but is now one of the 

 most common trees in Salt-ponds, the seeds having been brought 

 over by the Spanish cattle, which were formerly imported in 

 great numbers from the difi^erent parts of South America. 

 Horses, cattle, sheep, and indeed every description of stock 

 feed readily on the pods, and are usually collected under the 

 trees, on a windy day, waiting till they fall to the ground. The 

 tree itself aft'ords a beautiful shade, and grows up very rapidly. 

 The wood is said to be very ornamental. 



.5. Inga cyclocarpa. Shell-podded Inga. 



Pinnae 5-9-paired, leaflets 20-30-paired oblong- 

 obtuse subdimidiate pid)erulous, a glandule below the 

 lovvest^and another between the 1-2 extreme pairs of 



