LEGUMINOS;!^. 320 



2. CiEsalpinia bijuga. Indian savin Tree. 

 Glabrous prickly or subunarmed, leaflets duplicato- 

 bijugate more or less obcordate, racemes panicled, 

 flowers shortly pedicelled. 



Senna spuria arborea spinosa, Sloane, II. t. 181. f. 2. 3 — 

 Acacia gloriosa Janiaicensis, Plum. Aim. — Poinciana bijuga, 

 Jacq. Am. 123. — CiBsalpiuia bijuga, Swartz, Obs. 1G6. 



HAB. Common in dry savannahs. 



FL. October — December. 



A tree 15-20 feet in height, erect : branches round, glabrous : 

 prickles axilhiry, solitary, or in pairs one on each side of the 

 base of the petiole, or sometimes awanting. Pinnae 2-paired ; 

 each pinna of two pair of leaflets: leaflets shortly petiolulated, 

 somewhat diff^ornied and unequilateral, narrowing towards the 

 base, broad and rounded and occasionally emarginate at the 

 apex, and hence obovate and more or less obcordate, an inch 

 in length : common petiole about 2 inches in length. Flowers 

 showy, yellow, numerous, shortly pedicelled, arranged in a 

 terminal panicled raceme. Calycine sepals 5, concrete at the 

 base to form a subpersistent cupula, unequal ; four of them 

 oblong, obtuse, petaloid, yellow ; the fifth longer, concave, 

 greenish. Petals 5, rather longer than the sepals, unequal ; 4 

 of them shortly clawed, with the claws hirsute with white 

 hairs, oblong ; the fifth broad and hirsute at the base, hooded, 

 obtuse, yellow spotted with orange. Stamens equal in length 

 to the petals ; filaments hirsute for the greater part of their 

 length : anthers ovate. Ovary linear, hispid : style erect, 

 hirsute : stigma simple. Legume an inch and a half in length, 

 and half an inch in breadth, glabrous, thickened along the su- 

 tures, 3-seeded, ventricose at the situation of the seeds, so 

 that when the pod is ripe they rattle. Seeds subquadrate, 

 compressed, smooth, shining, black. 



All parts of this tree give out, when bruised, a strong bal- 

 samic scent. The pods have some resemblance to those of 

 C. coriaria, and might, I have no doubt, be employed for simi- 

 lar useful purposes. The tree, when in blossom, has a very 

 beautiful appearance on the dry parched savannahs, from the 

 bright yellow of the flowers contrasting with the deep green 

 of the leaves. 



S, * Caesalpinia Crista. Oval-leaved Brasiletto. 



Prickly very glabrous, pinnae 1-3-paired, leaflets 

 obovate generally obcordate, racemes simple, pedicels 

 3 times longer than the flower, petals shorter than 

 the calyx. 



Csesalpinia polyphylla aculeis horrida, Plum. Gen. 26. t. 68. 

 — C. crista. Linn, Sp. 544. 



