Bulca. DIADF.LrHIA DF.CANDRIA. 245 



toothed, covered with the same dark green down that the ra- 

 cemes and pedicels are covered with. Corol ; banner reflect- 

 ed, ovate, pointed, very little longer than the wings. Winys 

 ascending, lanceolate, the length of the keel. Keel two-part- 

 ed, ascending-, large, semilunatc, the length of the wings and 

 banner. Filaments one and nine, ascending in a regular 

 semi-circle, about as long as the corol. Anthers equal, li- 

 near, erect. Germ short, thick, pedicelled, lanceolate, downy. 

 Style ascending", a little longer than the filaments. Stigma 

 small, glandular. Lefjitme pedicelled, pendulous, linear, thin, 

 downy, a"bout six inches long. Seed one, lodged near the 

 point of the legume, oval, much compressed, smooth, brown, 

 about an inch and a half long, nnd about one broad. 



From natural fissures, and wounds made in the bark of 

 this tree, during' the hot season, there issues a most beautiful 

 red juice, which soon hardens into a ruby-coloured, brittle, 

 astringent gum ; but it soon loses its beautiful colour, if ex- 

 posed to the air. To preserve the colour, it must be gathered 

 as soon as it becomes hard, and kept closely corked up in a 

 bottle. 



This gum held in the flame of a candle swells, and burns 

 away slowly without smell or the least flame into a coal, and 

 then into fine light white ashes. Held in the mouth it soon 

 dissolves; its taste is strongly, but simply astringent. Heat 

 does not soften it, but rather renders it more brittle. Pure 

 water dissolves it perfectly; the solution is of a deep, clear 

 red colour. It is in a great measure soluble in spirits, but this 

 solution is paler, and a little turbid ; the watery solution also 

 becomes turbid when spirit is added, and the spirituous more 

 clear by the addition of water ; diluted vitriolic acid renders 

 both solutions turbid, and caustic ; vegetable alkali changes 

 the colour of the watery solution to a clean, deep, fiery blood 

 red.* The spirituous, it also deepens, but in a less degree. 



* With an alkalized decoction of this gum, I tried to dye cot- 

 ton cloth prepared with alum, with sugar of lead, and with a so- 



