CHAP. II.] 



C^SALPINEiE. 



45 



and stamens of unequal length, which with few 

 exceptions are also perfectly free. The petals 

 are generally of the same size and shape; though 

 sometimes, as in the Barbadoes Flower-fence 

 (Poiiiciana, or Ccesalpmia pidcherrima) , four are 

 of the same shape, and one deformed (seey^r. 18). 



Fig. 18. — Flower of the Barbadoes Flower-fence. 



The filaments of some of the stamens are very 

 long and curving over, but the others are much 

 shorter and erect ; the style is long and slender, 

 ending in a pointed stigma. The legume is 

 flat, and it looks almost many-celled, from the 

 seeds being divided from each other by a kind 

 of spongy substance, frequently found in the pods 



