250 DiADELPHiA DECANDRiA. Enjthrina. 



pair obliquely so, from three to six inches long-, and about the 

 same bread I h. They are deciduous in the cool season, which 

 corresponds with winter in Europe. Petioles round, smooth, 

 unarmed. Stipules of the petioles falcate, those of the leaflets 

 round, and concave underneath. Racemes terminal, and 

 projecting' horizontally at a right angle IVom the branchlet, 

 sub-secund. Peduncles round, v. Idle young and tender some- 

 what mealy; when advanced, smooth, ferruginous purple; 

 pedicels ascending in a curved direction, tern, but often so 

 crowded as to apj)ear verticelled. Brncles minute, one under 

 each pedicel, and two on the calyx. /^/o?r('rs numerous, large, 

 of a bright dazzling scarlet. Caljjx spathaceous, opening lon- 

 gitudinally on the upper side; apex contracted, five toothed. 

 Banner oblong, erect. Winr/s scarcely one-fourth the length 

 of the banner, semilunar. J^ee/ two-petalled, and much like 

 the winiis. Filaments one and nine. Jlnlhers sagittate. 

 Germ long-pedicellcd, mealy, from ten to fifteen-seeded. 

 Style so long as to elevate the erect glutinous stigma a little 

 above the anthers. Legume from six to twelve inches long, 

 cuspidate, very protuberant at the seeds, and equally so on 

 each margin, when ripe blackish, and wrinkled. Seeds from 

 six to eight, oblong, smooth, blackish-purple. 



This tree is employed, in many parts of India, to support 

 the black pepper vine. See Marsden's Historij of Sumatra^ 

 page 107. The best method for raising them is by planting 

 cuttings of about eighteen inches, or two feet long, and about 

 as thick as a man's arm, half under ground, if planted of a 

 greater length, the wind is apt to shake them, which prevents 

 their striking root. From ten or more feet asunder, according 

 to the quality of the soil, and in quincunx order, is from my 

 experience, the best way. 



What seems to render these trees very proper for this pur- 

 pose, is their quick growth, their firm, permanent, though 

 smooth bark, which never peels off, and gives firm hold to the 

 roots of the vine, which come out abundantly at the joints. 

 And lastly, they are full of leaves, and very shady during 



