I.EGUMINOSiE. 331 



XLVI. POINCIANA. 



Calycine sepals 5, unequal, united at tlic base into 

 a persistent cupule ; the lowest one hooded. Petals 

 5, clawed; the upper one diffbrmed. Stamens 10, 

 very long, all perfect ; filaments hirsute at the base. 

 Style very long, Legume piano-compressed, 2-val- 

 ved, submultilocular with spongy isthmi : seeds ob- 

 ovate, compressed ; endopleura a gelatinous fluid ; 

 cotyledons plane ; plumule oval. — l)e CancL 



Named, by Tournefort, in memory of De Poinci, Governor 

 of the Antilles, a patron of Botany. 



Poinciana pulcherrima. Barhadoes Flower-fence or 



Pride. 



Prickly, leaflets obovate, calyx smooth, petals fim- 

 briated on a long claw. 



Senna spuria arborea spinosa, foliis alatis ramosis sen decom- 

 positis, flore ex luteo et rubro specioso, Sloane, II. 49. — Csesal- 

 pinia pulcherrima, Swartz, Obs. 166.— Poinciana aculeata, 

 Broione, 225. — P. pulcherrima, Jacq. Ainer. 122. — De Cand, 

 Prod. II. 484. 



HAB. Dry thickets. River-courses. Liguanea. 



FL. Throughout the year. 



This prickly shrub is usually about 10 feet in height. The 

 flowers are very showy, red or less frequently yellow, with long 

 stamens, arranged in a terminal corymb. It is supposed to 

 have originally been a native of the East Indies. It appears, 

 however, from Sloane, to have been common at a very early 

 period after the discovery of the Island. It is stated by Ligon, 

 that it was brought to Barhadoes from the Cape de Verd 

 Islands. 



The leaves when bruised have a smell resembling that of 

 savine, and the infusion, as also that of the flowers, is considered 

 a powerful emmenagogue, so as even to bring on abortion. 

 The leaves are also said to be purgative, and to have been used 

 as a substitute for senna. The seeds, in powder, are stated 

 to form a remedy for the belly-ach. It has been proposed to 

 employ the shrub itself in making fences ; but it is not Avell 

 adapted for this purpose, from the branches being long and not 

 much subdivided, and i'ew and naked towards the root. 



XLVII. H^EMAToxYLON. Logwood. 

 Calycine sepals 5, coalescing at the base into a short 



