Pterocarpmt. diadelphia decandria. 235 



fal, numerous, extending far. Leaves sub-bifarious, alter- 

 nate, pinnate with an odd one, eight or nine inches long. 

 Leaflets five, six or seven, alternate, elliptic, emarginate, firm, 

 above shining, and deep green ; below less so, from three to 

 five inches lono- and two or three broad. Petioles round, 

 smooth, waved from leaflet to leaflet, five or six inches long. 

 Stipules none. Panicles terminal, very large, ramifications 

 bifarious, like the leaves. Peduncles and pedicels round, a 

 little downy. Bractes, a small caducous one below each di- 

 vision and sub-division of the panicle. Flowers papilionace- 

 ous, very numerous, white, with a small tinge of yellow. 

 Banner with a long slender claw, very broad ; sides reflexed, 

 waved, curled, veined. Wings with claws as above, oval, 

 waved, curled, veined. Keel two-petallcd, adhering slight- 

 ly for a little way near their middle, waved, &c. as the ban- 

 ner. Filaments ten, united into one body near the base, but 

 soon splitting into two bodies of five each. Anthers globose, 

 two-lobed. Germ oblong, pedicelled, hairy, generally two- 

 celled ; cells transverse, and to the anterior margin (he single 

 ovulum of each cell is attached. Style ascending. Legume, 

 the under three-fourths orbicular, the upper side, which ex- 

 tends from the pedicel to the remains of the style, straight, 

 the whole surrounded with a waved, veined, downy, mem- 

 branaceous wing, swelled, rugose, and woody in the centre, 

 where the seed is lodged, not opening ; generally one, though 

 sometimes two-celled. Seed solitary, kidney-shaped. 



From wounds in the bark, there issues a red juice, which 

 hardens in the open air into a dark red, very brittle, gummy 

 resin, on being powdered it changes to a light brown, not un- 

 like powdered peruvian bark. In the flame of a candle it burns 

 with difficulty, and without cracking, swelling, noise, or any 

 peculiar smell, into fine white ashes. In the mouth it mebs 

 away like the simple gums. Its taste is strongly, but sim- 

 ply astringent; as much so, I think, as that of the gum of the 

 Butea, which it resembles much. It tinges the spittle but 

 little ; heat does not soften it. 



D d2 



