522 LEGUMINOSZ.. 
legumes long, linear, turgid, glabrous, many-seeded; suture — 
_ keeled; seeds horizontal with cellular partitions; flowers mid-— 
dle-sized; yellow, The plant has a heavy disagreeable smell, — 
and a purplish tinge; the root is fibrous and woody, with a — 
blackish bark giving it the appearance of having been burnt, — 
and has a strong odour of musk. It springs up upon waste | 
ground during the rains, and flowers in November. The planta 
often last for several years, and attain a considerable size. 
C. ocetdentalis.—Erect, branches glabrous; leaflets 3 to5 pairs, — 
without glands between them, ovate-lanceolate, very acute, — 
glabrous on both sides; petiole with a large sessile gland — 
near its tumid base; flowers longish-pedicelled, yellow, upper 
ones forming a genainal raceme, lower ones 8 to 5 together on — 
a very short axillary peduncle; legumes long, surrounded with — 
a tumid border. The seeds are of a grey colour, and of the — 
shape of rounded discs, from ;% to 74; of an inch in diameter, — 
and +4, of an inch in thickness. The plant appears in the rains” | 
upon waste ground and rubbish; it has a sickly eee smell, 
and closely resembles C. Sophera. 
Chemical composition.—The roots of C. Sophera contain a 
resinous substance affording fine red solutions with alkalies, and — 
a bitter principle, not of an alkaloidal nature, in the aqueous — 
“solution of the alcoholic extract. Water dissolves out a red 
pigmental glucoside yielding a decomposition product insoluble — 
in water. The leaves contain cathartin, colouring matter, and — 
12 per cent. of saline residue. Examined by Clonet (1876), the 
seeds of C. occidentalis were found to contain:—Fatty matters 
(olein and margarin), 4:9; tannic acid, 0°9; sugar, 2°1; gum, © 
28:8; starch, 2:0; ealiatoesy: 34°0; water, 7° 0; calcium sulphate — 
and phosphate, chrysophanic iid, 0°9; meio acid, sodium — 
chloride, magnesium sulphate, iron, silica, together, 5-4; and 
achrosine, 13°58 partsin 100. The latter substance was obtained 
by exhausting the powder of the seeds previously treated with 
ether, by means of alcohol of 60 per cent. The alcohol is 
distilled off, the | SYPSPY: residue treated with absolute alcoh 
; in : : 
ing a soli 
