NAT. ORDER. LEGDMINOS^. 147 



erally unamied, but the rachides are prickly beneath ; leaflets from 

 sixteen to twenty, and generally an odd one at the lower side of the 

 base of each pinnos ; narrow, almost linear, acute, very unequal at the 

 base, or subdimidiate ; and sdpells minute, linear at the origin of the 

 pinnoe ; stipules deciduous ; panicles from six inches to a foot long, sub- 

 cylindrical or thyrsiform, their main stems prickly, at first terminal, but 

 their ends ultimately shoot out into a branch ; j^edimcles full an inch 

 long, round, unarmed, covered with a fulvous or golden brown toinen- 

 tum, patent, divaricate, singly or in bunches of from two to six from 

 each axil ; bractcas ovate or lanceolate, deciduous ; heads globose, 

 very dense and close ; flowcre perfectly sessile, with minute, linear, 

 short, hairy, deep dull red or puiplish bracteolas at their base, not 

 visible externally; c«/?/.r pubescent, but shining, cylindrical, four to six 

 toothed — the teeth short, half-ovate, often unequal in breadth, each 

 two-nerved ; ^jcto/s four to six, but their number does not uniformly 

 correspond with that of the sepals — pale green with whitish edges, 

 and the tip purplish-red ; stamens very numerous and dense, not 

 spreading, but forming close, thick bundles ; between which appears 

 the dull-red color of the calyxes ; filaments rather short, smooth, and 

 nearly white ; anthers small, globose, pale yellovy ; style smooth, near- 

 ly white, a little longer than the stamens, with a simple stigma ; pods 

 never perfected in this country. All the flowers, however, appear to 

 be hermaphrodite. 



This is a most elegant and lovely shrub, but a dangerous neighbor 

 to other plants within its reach, and requiring much space for its dis- 

 play. It would be capable of being formed into an impenetrable fence, 

 or might be advantageously employed to give additional security, if 

 trained along a wall. The flowers arc scentless, but singular and 

 handsome, from the strong contrast between the pale yellow bundles 

 of stamens, and the dark dull-red of their interstices. In the bud the 

 heads are altogether of a deep red, becoming yellower as die filaments 

 expand. The native country of this species of Acacia must remain 

 uncertain. In medicine it is but little known. 



