112 ELEMENTS OF BOTANY. 



60. c^salpinace;e. senna family. 



Trees, shrubs or herbs; leaves simple or compound, alter- 

 nate, usually stipulate ; flowers variously clustered, perfect, 

 polygamous or monoecious, regular, or irregular and somewhat 

 papilionaceous ; calyx usually of 5 distinct or united sepals ; 

 petals usually 5, the upper enclosed by those on the sides ; 

 stamens 10 or less, usually distinct ; ovary 1-celled, usually 

 several-seeded, fruit a legume. 



I. CERCIS. 



Trees ; leaves simple, stipulate ; flowers in axillary clusters, 

 papilionaceous ; calyx bell-shaped, 5-toothed ; stamens 10, 

 distinct; ovary short-stipitate, ovules several; fruit a flat- 

 tened legume. 



C. Canadensis L. Redbud. A snicall tree, 10-20 ft. high, 

 wood hard but weak, bark smooth, dark-colored ; leaves broadly cor- 

 date, abruiitly acute, rather thick, very smooth above, often slightly 

 pubescent below ; flowers several in a cluster, appearing before the 

 leaves, pinkish-purple ; legume oblong, compressed, many-seeded. 

 Februarv-March. Common on rich soil. 



II. CASSIA. 



Shrubs or herbs ; leaves abruptly pinnately compound, 

 stipulate ; flowers mostly yellow ; sepals nearly regular, 

 slightly united below ; petals 5, somewhat unequal ; stamens 

 5 or 10, often partly irregular or abortive ; legume many- 

 seeded, seeds often separated by cross partitions. 



1. C. Tor A L. Low Senna. Annual herbs; stem stout, erect, 

 branched, glabrous, 2-3 ft. high ; leaves petioled ; leaflets usually (5, 

 1-H iu. long, obovate, mucronate, entire, M'ith a small slender gland 

 between the lowest pair ; stipules deciduous ; flowers usually in pairs, 

 |-1 in. broad; stamens 10, the anthers of 3 being imperfect; legume 

 linear, curved, 4-0 in. long. June-August. On rich moist soil. 



2. C. occidentalis L. Coffee Senna. Annual ; stem erect, 

 widely branched, glabrous; leaves petioled; leaflets 8-12, 1-2 in. 

 long, broadly lanceolate, acuminate at the apex, rounded at the 



