404 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 



8. Cassia flexuosa L. Sp. PI. 379. 1753. 

 Chamaecrista flexuosa Greene, Pittonia 4: 27. 1899. 

 Chamaecrista ampUstipuluta Rose, Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 12: 267. 1909. 

 Yucatan to Guerrero and Oaxaca. Central America and northern South 



America ; type from Brazil. 



Low erect shrub, with small coriaceous leaflets and large stipules. 



9. Cassia picachensis T. S. Brandeg. Univ. Calif. Publ. Bot. 6: 180. 1915. 

 Guerrero to Oaxaca ; type from Cerro de Picacho, Oaxaca. 



Very closely related to the preceding species, and probably only a pubescent 

 form of it. 



10. Cassia leptocarpa Benth. Linnaea 22: 528. 1849. 



Sinaloa to Chihuahua, Veracruz, and Oaxaca. Central America and South 

 America. 



More commonly, perhaps, herbaceous, but sometimes shrubby and 2.5 meters 

 high, ill-scented, variable in pubescence, sometimes glabrous but often pilose; 

 leaflets about 5 pairs, ovate. 3 to 10 cm. long, acute or acuminate ; flowers large 

 and showy, paniculate ; fruit subterete, 15 to 25 cm. long. " Viche " ( Sinaloa ) . 



11. Cassia occidentalis L. Sp. PI. 377. 1753. 



Chihuahua to Sinaloa, Chiapas, and Yucatan. Widely distributed in tropical 

 and subtropical America ; type from Jamaica. 



Herbaceous or shrubby, sometimes 2.5 meters high, ill-scented ; leaflets 4 to 7 

 pairs, ovate, 2 to 8 cm. long, acute or acuminate, usually glabrous ; flowers 

 large and showy, mostly axillary ; fruit flat, glabrous, with thick margins. 

 " Habilla," " habilla prieta " (Michoacttn, Guerrero); " bricho " (Jalisco, San 

 Luis PotosI) ; " mezquitillo " (Jalisco, Oaxaca); " hediondillo " (Oaxaca); 

 " vainillo " (Oaxaca); " ecapatli " or " ecapacle " (Nahuatl) ; " frijolillo " (El 

 Salvador, Panama, Nicaragua); " pico de p^jaro " (Costa Rica, Nicaragua); 

 " hierba de la potra." " hierba de gallinazo," " altera," " bicho," " furrusca," 

 " comida de murcielago," " chilinchile " (Colombia); " brusca " (Colombia, 

 Venezuela, Cuba) ; "hierba hedionda," " martinica " (Cuba). 



The seeds are sometimes employetl as a substitute for coffee. The plant is 

 used in domestic medicine for its reputed tonic, diuretic, stomachic, and febri- 

 fuge properties. It is employetl especially for dropsy, rheumatism, fevers, and 

 venereal diseases. An infusion of the leaves has been employed by the regular 

 physicians of the French colonies of western Africa in the treatment of yellow 

 fever, with good results according to reports.* The plant is used also, in the 

 form of an ointment, as a remedy for ringworm, eczema, and other cutaneous 

 diseases. 



This species is figured by Hernfindez,* and described in a chapter entitled 

 " De Ecapatli, sen parva Sambuco." His account is as follows : " Ecpatli, 

 which some call Tlaloaxin, some Totoncaxihoitl, or hot medicine, some Xonio- 

 tontli, or little elder, and others XiopatU, is a hairy shrub, with leaves like 

 the almond, and smooth, purplish, slender, round stems. On the tips of the 

 branches are borne the yellow flowers, from which spring the pods, which 

 are slender, round, and long, filled with purplish seeds, like lentils but smaller, 

 of heavy odor and bitter flavor. The shrub grows in fields of the hot and 

 temperate regions, and is often cultivated about houses and gardens because 

 of its medicinal virtues. Its nature is hot and dry and somewhat astringent. 

 It cures tumors and ulcers and calms ear-ache. The leaves, crushed and 

 applied as a plaster to the belly, benefit infants who vomit their milk ; and 



' See Heckel, Les plantes utiles de Madagascar, p. 266. 1910. 

 ' Thesaurus 112. 1651. 



