STANDLEY TREES AND SHEUBS OF MEXICO. 405 



applied likewise to the head they alleviate pain ; and applied everywhere to 

 the body, or taken in the quantity of a handful, they relieve fever chills. 

 Some say that in this manner it cures indigestion also, that its application 

 helps that form of leprosy which the Indians call XiotV 



12. Cassia grandis L. f. Suppl. PI. 230. 1791. 



Collected at Acapulco, but perhaps only cultivated ; reported from Tabasco. 

 Central America, West Indies, and South America. 



Tree, 4 to 10 meters high or larger; leaflets large, oblong, 10 to 20 pairs, 

 pubescent ; flowers large and showy, racemose, white or pink ; fruit 45 to 60 

 cm. long, about 3.5 cm. in diameter. " Caiiaflstula grande " (Tabasco); 

 " canaflstula " (Guerrero); " carao " (Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador); 

 "sandal" (Costa Rica); "cargo" (El Salvador, Honduras); "canaflstula 

 gruesa," " caiiandonga " (Colombia); " cardmano " (Nicaragua); "canaflstula 

 cimarrona " (Porto Rico). 



The fruit is filled with a bitter pulp, which has laxative properties and is 

 used in the treatment of fevers. 



It is probably this species which has been reported frequently from Mexico 

 as C fistula L. The writer has seen no Mexican specimens of the latter, 

 although it may occur in Mexico, at least in cultivation. The following 

 Mexican names names are reported for C. fistula: "Canaflstula," " quauhayo- 

 huachtli," " quauhuayo." It has been reported from Oaxaca, Campeche, 

 Morelos, and Veracruz. 



13. Cassia tora L. Sp. PI. 376. 1753. 



Baja California and Sonora to Chiapas and Veracruz. Widely distributed in 

 the tropics of both hemispheres. 



Plants ill-scented, glabrous or nearly so, usually herbaceous but sometimes 

 fruticose and a meter high; leaflets obovate or rounded-obovate, 2 to 5 cm. 

 long, rounded at apex; flowers large, yellow; fruit 15 to 20 cm. long, 3 to 4 

 mm. wide. " Dormil6n " (Costa Rica); " biche manso " (Sinaloa) ; "ejotil" 

 (Guatemala, Honduras, Blake). 



The leaves ai-e said to have the purgative properties of the senna of com- 

 merce. In the Old World tropics they are sometimes cooked and eaten. In 

 India the plant bears a great reputation as a remedy for ringworm and other 

 cutaneous diseases. It is sometimes cultivated there for the seeds, which are 

 used as a mordant in dyeing cloth blue. The seeds are sometimes employed 

 in Mexico as a substitute for coffee, and it is said that they have been im- 

 ported into Europe from the tropics for use in adulterating that article. In 

 India the leaves are fried in castor oil (oil of Ricinus communis) and applied 

 to ulcers; they are also crushed and used to relieve the pain of insect stings, 

 and employed as poultices to boils to hasten suppuration. In the same country 

 the seeds, ground and mixed with buttermilk, are employed to relieve itching 

 eruptions of the skin. 



14. Cassia ornithopoides Lam. Encycl. 1 : 466. 1783. 

 Cassia sericea Sw^artz, Fl. Ind. Occ. 724. 1797. 



Tamaulipas to Sonora, Guerrero, and YucatSn. Central America, West In- 

 dies, and South America. 



Plants usually herbaceous, but sometimes fruticose and a meter high, 

 sericeous with rufous or fulvous hairs; flowers small, yellow; fruit short, 

 tetragonous, constricted between the seeds. " Ovilla " (Michoacan, Guei-rero) ; 

 "xtuab" (Ramirez). 



Seeds used in Brazil as a substitute for coffee, the leaves as poultices for 

 wounds, and the roots as a remedy for dropsy. 



