STANDLEY — TBEES AND SHRUBS OF MEXICO. 407 



about 11 cm. long, with thin valves. " Retama " (Guerrero, Ramirez) ; " alca- 

 parro" (Colombia). 



23. Cassia spectabilis DC. Cat. Hort. Monsp, 90. 1813. 



Reported from Veracruz. Central America, West Indies, and Colombia. 



Tree, sometimes 9 meters high ; leaflets lanceolate, 4.5 to 8 cm. long, attenuate ; 

 fruit 25 to 30 cm. long, terete, glabrous, transversely sulcate, with thick hard 

 valves. " Canchin " (Veracruz, /JamtVes). 



It may be that this is one of the species which, in Mexico, have been confused 

 with C. fistula L. 



24. Cassia laevigata Willd. Enum. PL 441. 1809. 



Sinaloa to Tamaulipas, Veracruz, and Chiapas. Widely distributed in the 

 tropics of both hemispheres. 



Plants herbaceous or fruticose, sometimes 2.5 meters high, or occasionally a 

 small tree, glabrous or nearly so ; leaflets usually ovate, 4 to 8 cm. long, acute 

 or acuminate ; flowers yellow ; fruit subcompressed, 6 to 10 cm. long, 6 to 8 mm. 

 in diameter. " Duerme de noche " (Durango) ; " retama " or " retamo " (Vera- 

 cruz, Durango, Oaxaca) ; "caf6 del pals," (Veracruz, Oaxaca) ; "sen del pais," 

 "hierba hedionda macho" (Porto Rico); " frijolillo " (Guatemala, Honduras, 

 Blake). 



Seeds sometimes used as a substitute for cofEee. The plant is said to have 

 purgative properties, and is used in Mexico as an emmenagogue. Sornay states 

 that the plant has been suspected to be poisonous. 



This species is figured by Hernandez * and discussed in a chapter entitled " De 

 ChatalhtUc Cassia Silvestri." The figure applies to this plant, but the descrip- 

 tion does not agree in all particulars. He speaks of it as " chatalhuic, which 

 some call Cacaotl or Casm fistula^ " The bark," he says, " which is hot and 

 dry in the fourth degree, is light or dark in color; powdered and drunk in the 

 quantity of two drachms in water in the morning it purges the bile and phlegm, 

 and expels worms if there are any in the body. It is esteemed as an excellent 

 drug by the natives. The same bark, mixed with Axin and supplied behind 

 the ears, cures earache. The rind of the fruit, which is sweet and in flavor simi- 

 lar to that of Cassia fistula, drunk in the same manner and quantity, purges 

 the bile and phlegm, soothes the belly, and acts as a gentle purgative. The same 

 rind, pulverized and infused in water (a comb being wetted with it), restores 

 the hair and makes it grow long. The seeds, ground and mixed with water and 

 drunk, soothe fevers. All of which things have been proved by a thousand 

 experiments." On page 376 of the same work there is figured, without descrip- 

 tion, " Ecapatli altera," which also is probably of this species. 



25. Cassia argentea H. B. K. Nov. Gen. & Sp. 7: 358. 1823. 

 Known only from the type locality, banks of the Rio Mescala. 



Said to be a shrub about a meter high, although the related species are 

 much lower and herbaceous. No material seen by the writer. 



26. Cassia bicapsularis L. Sp. PI. 376. 1753. 



Cassia ovaUfolia Mart. & Gal. Bull. Acad. Brux. 12: 305. 1843. 



Cassia manzanilloana Rose, Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 1: 325. 1895. 



Sonora to Tamaulipas, Yucatan, and Chiapas. Widely distributed in tropical 

 America ; also adventive in the Old World. 



Shrub, 1.5 to 3 meters high, or often herbaceous, glabrous or pubescent; 

 leaflets oval or obovate, 1.5 to 4 cm. long; flowers pale yellow, very large and 

 showy ; fruit subterete, about 11 cm. long and 1 cm. in diameter, smooth. 

 " Bricho " or " bicho " (Jalisco, San Luis Potosi) ; " alcaparrillo " (Oaxaca, 



^Thesaurus 70. 1651. 

 55268—22 16 



