FABACEiE, OR LEGUMINOSJE. 



Tribe III. Mimose^. 



ACACIA. 



Flowers polygamous, bisexual, and male. Calyx 4— 5-toothed. 

 Petals 4-5 either distinct, or united into a gamopetalous 4-5- 

 cleft corolla. Stamens various in number (8-200). Legume 

 continuous, dry, 2-valved. Seeds without pulp. — Shrubs or 

 trees, unarmed, or armed with stipulary thorns or scattered 

 prickles. Leaves pinnated or bipinnated ; sometimes absent and 

 represented by dilated petioles or phyllodia. Flowers yellow, 

 white, or rarely red, in globular heads or longish spikes. 



555. A. gummifera Willd. iv. 1056. DC. prodr. ii. 455. — 

 Sassa gummifera Gmel. syst. — Africa about Mogador. 



Smooth. Leaflets on 2 pinnae, in about 6 pairs, linear, obtuse, with 

 a sessile gland between the pinnae ; spines stipulary, straight. Spikes 

 oblong, axillary. Legume somewhat moniliform, white with down. — 

 It is by no means certain that the Sassa Gum, mentioned under Inga 

 sassa, No 569, is not produced by this plant. Mr. Pereira refers 

 Barbary Gum to it. 



556. A. ferruginea DC. prodr. ii. 458. W. and A. i. 273. — 

 Mimosa ferruginea Roxb. Jl. ind. ii. 561. — Mountainous parts 

 of India. 



Thorns stipulary, recurved, strong, short and very sharp, sometimes 

 absent. Leaves bipinnate, from 2 to 3 inches long ; pinnae from 3 to 6 

 pair, opposite, 1 or H inch long; leaflets from 8 to 12 pair, linear- 

 oblong, smooth, small ; petioles now and then armed - with a few small 

 prickles on the under side. Spikes axillary and terminal, erect, cylin- 

 drical, stalked, pale yellow. Filaments many, monadelphous. Legumes 

 membranous, rust-coloured, about 6 inches long and 1 broad. Seeds 

 from 5 to 7. — Bark strongly astringent; added to jagghery water in 

 India it forms an intoxicating liquor. 



557. A. Catechu Willd. iv. 1079. DC. prodr. ii. 458. S. 

 and C. ii. t. 76. Macfadrj. fl. jam. i. 314. W. and A. i. 272. 

 — A polyacantha Willd. 1. c. DC. 459. A. Wallichiana DC. 

 458. Mimosa Catechu Linn, suppl. 439. Woodv. t. 66. Roxb. 



Jl. bid. ii. 563. Cor. plants, ii. t. 175. M. Catechuoides Roxb. 



Jl. ind. ii. 562. — Various parts of the East Indies, now com- 

 mon in Jamaica. 



A tree, 15-20 feet high ; branches spreading, armed with strong black 

 stipulary spines, downy towards their extremities. Leaves bipinnate ; 

 pinnae 10-17 pairs ; leaflets 30-50 pairs, linear, bluntish, unequal and 

 auricled on the lower side at the base, ciliated ; petiole angular, chan- 

 nelled above, downy, with 1 orbicular urceolate green gland below the 

 lowest pair, and smaller ones between each of the 2, 3, or 4 terminal 

 pairs of pinnae. Spikes axillary, 1-2 together, cylindrical, on downy 

 stalks. Flowers numerous, white, sessile. Calyx externally downy, 

 5-fid ; teeth erect. Corolla rather longer than the calyx, 5-fid, glabrous. 

 Stamens twice the lenpth of the corolla, very numerous, distinct. 



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