CALTCIFLORiE. 531 



of Carob, Locust, St. John's Bread, and Algaroba Bean. Its pulp has a very 

 sweet taste, and is supposed to have been the food of St. John in the wilder- 

 ness. It is now largely imported into this country as a food for cattle. 



Baphia nitida, a native of Sierra Leone and other parts of Africa, furnishes 

 the dye-wood known under the name of Barwood or Camwood. It produces 

 a brilliant red colour. 



Sub-Order 3. Mimose^. — The plants of this sub-order are chiefly remark- 

 able for yielding gum and astringent principles. Some few are reputed to be 

 poisonous, as the Acacia varians, the root of a Brazilian species of Mimosa, 

 the leaves and branches of Prosopis uil/flora, the bark of Erythrophlceurn 

 guineense, Sec. 



Erythrophlceurn guineense. The Sassy Tree of Western Africa. — The 

 bark under the name of " ordeal bark " or " doom bark," is used in certain 

 parts of Africa as an ordeal, to which persons suspected of witchcraft, secret 

 murder, &c., are subjected as a test of their innocence or guilt. 



Adenanthera pavonina, a native of India, &c., produces a dye-wood, called 

 Red Sandal-wood. This must not be confounded with the Red Sandal-wood 

 already alluded to, as derived from Pterocarpus Santalinus. (Seep. -528.) 

 The seeds, under the name of Barricarri Seeds, are used in the northern 

 parts of South America for making necklaces, &c. They are perfectly smooth, 

 and have a bright red colour. 



Prosopis pallida The legumes of this and some other species are very as- 

 tringent, and have been used in tanning under the names of Algaroba or 

 Algarobilla. In South America, a drink called Chica is prepared from the 

 irnit oi Prosopis Algaroba. The name of Chica was at first given to a fer. 

 mented liquor of the Maize, but is now commonly applied in South America 

 to several fermented drinks. 



Acacia. — Various species of this genus yield gum. Thus, A. vera and 

 nilotica of Delile, are the chief sources of Gum Arabic ; A. gummifern, of 

 Barbary or Morocco Gum ; A. Verek, vera, Seyal, and others, of Gum 

 Senegal : A. arabica and speciosa, of East Indian Gum ; A. Karoo, of Cape 

 Gum; and A. decurrens, viollissima, and affinis,oi South Australian Gum. 

 The extract prepared from the duramen or inner wood of Acacia Catechu, 

 furnishes a kind of Catechu or Cutch, a powerfully astringent substance, con- 

 taining much tannin, and largely employed in the processes of tanning and 

 dyeing, and also to some extent in medicine. (See Uncaria Gambir.) The 

 dried legumes of ^. nilotica are imported under the names of Neb-neb, Nib- 

 nib, or Bablah, and are also used by tanners on account of their astringent 

 properties. The barks of A. arabica and A Catechu possess similar pro- 

 perties, and are used extensively in India under the'name of Bdbool. The 

 extract of the bark of A. melanoxylon, an Australian species, is also a valuable 

 tanning principle, and is frequently imported into this country for that purpose. 

 The bark is also sometimes imported under the name of Acacia Bark. A.for- 

 mosa, a native of Cuba, furnishes a very hard, tough, and durable wood, of a 

 dull red colour, called Sabicu. This is the wood that was used in construc- 

 ting the stairs of the Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, at the Great Exhibition in 

 1«5], and which upon removal was found to be but little worn. The flowers 

 of A. Farnesiana are very fragrant, and when distilled with water or spirit, 

 yield a delicious perfume. A. Seyal is supposed to be the Shittah-tree or 

 Shittim-wood of the Bible. By others, however, this has been thought to have 

 been A. vera, and by some, A. horrida. The first is probably correct. 



Natural Order 81. Moringace^. — The Moringa or Ben-Nut 

 Order, — Trees with bi- or tri-pinnate leaves, and deciduous - 

 coloured stipules. Flowers white, irregular. Sepals and petal-: 

 5 each; the former deciduous, petaloid, and furnished with a 

 fleshy disk; cestivation imbricated. Stamens 8 or 10, placed 

 on the disk lining the tube of the calyx, in two whorls, the 

 outer of which is sometimes sterile; anthers 1 -celled. Ovary 

 stalked, superior, 1-celled, with 3 pariental placentas. Fruit, 

 long, pod-shaped, capsular, 1-celled, 3-valved, with loculicidal 

 dehiscence. Seeds numerous, without albumen. 

 M m2 



