424 CONTKIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL. HEEBAKIUM. 



Shrub or small tree, 1.8 to 6 meters high, unarmed ; leaflets 2 to 5.5 cm. 

 long, pubescent ; flowers yellow, the largest sepal pectinate-lobed ; fruit 6 to 

 13 em. long, flat, velvety-pubescent, thin but apparently indehiscent; seeds 

 large, flat, brownish. "Palo Colorado" (Chihuahua, Sinaloa). 



A similar or perhaps the same species occurs in Yucatan, where it is 

 known as " chacte." The writer has seen only flowering specimens, which 

 matched those of C. platyl<oba; the fruit, however, may be different. One of 

 the collections was determined by Greenman as C. cubensis Greenm., but that 

 name is probably synonymous witli C. pectinata Cav. (Coulteria tinctoria H. 

 B. K.), a species in which the fruit is very different from that of C. platyloba. 



9. Caesalpinia eriostacliys Benth. ; Seem. Bot. Voy. Herald 88. 1853. 

 Sinaloa to Guerrero. Central America ; type from Costa Rica. 



Shrub or small tree, sometimes 6 meters high, v.ith an irregular trunk 20 

 cm. in diameter ; leaflets numerous, oval or rhombic, 4 to 11 mm. long, dotted 

 with black glands; flowers large, yellow, in long racemes; fruit 7 to 12 cm. 

 long, 2 to 2.5 cm. wide, puberulent, flat, dehiscent. " Iguanero " (Michoacsin, 

 Guerrero); " iguano " (Sinaloa); " palo alejo " (Colima, Oaxaca) ; " zahino " 

 or " zajino " (Costa Rica, Nicaragua). 



It is reported that in Colima the crushed bark is thrown in water to stupefy 

 fish. 



10. Caesalpinia sessilifolia S. Wats. Proc. Amer. Acad. 21 : 450. 1886. 

 Poinciana sessiliflora Rose, Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 13: 803. 1911. 

 Coahuila and Durango; type from Bols6n de Mapimi. 



Spiny shrub, 1 to 2 meters high ; leaflets suborbicular, 6 to 13 mm. long, pale, 

 glabrous ; flowers few, yellow ; fruit short and broad, glabrate. 



11. Caesalpinia laxa Benth. PI. Hartw. 60. 1840. 



Type from Teojomulco, Oaxaca ; reported also from Nuevo Leon. 

 Shrub, 0.9 to 1.2 meters high, nearly glabrous; leaflets 6 to 9 pairs, oval- 

 elliptic, 6 to 8 mm. long, glabrous. 



12. Caesalpinia pulcherrima (L.) Swartz, Obs. Bot. 166. 1791. 

 Poinciana pulcherrima L. Sp. PI. 380. 1753. 



Cultivated nearly throughout Mexico and often escapetl from cultivation. 

 Widely cultivated and naturalized in the tropics of both hemispheres, its native 

 habitat unknown. 



Glabrous shrub or small tree, 1 to 6 meters high, unarmed or prickly, the 

 trunk rarely more than 10 cm. in diameter ; bark thin, nearly smooth, brown ; 

 leaflets oblong to obovate, 1.5 to 2.5 cm. long, pale beneath ; flowers very large, 

 red, more or less variegated with yellow, or sometimes wholly yellow ; fruit flat, 

 about 10 cm. long and 2 cm. wide; wood soft and weak, orange, fine-grained. 

 " Flor de San Francisco " (Guerrero) ; " tabachin," " tabachino." or " tabaquin " 

 (Nuevo Le6n, Guerrero, Durango, Sinaloa, Baja California); " tabachfn ama- 

 rillo" (Jalisco); "flor de guacamaya " (Oaxaca. Chiapas); " chacsickin," 

 " kansickin " (yellow-flowered form) (Yucat&n, Maya); "flor del camar6n *' 

 (Vemeruz, Guerrero) ; " chaniolxochitl " (Nahuatl) : " chalcasuc-hil " (from the 

 Nahuatl chacal-xochitl, "shrimp-flower") ; " sirundaniqua " (Michoaein, Taras- 

 can, Ramirez); " xilox6chitl " (Puebla, Nahuatl); " maravilla moreiia " 

 (Oaxaca) ; " tabachil " (Sinaloa) : " guacamaya " or " guacaniayo " (Nicaragua, 

 Guatemala, Colombia, El Salvador); " clavellina " (Colombia, El Salvador. 

 Costa Bica, Porto Rico); " hoja de sen" (Costa R'ca) ; "flor barbona " (El 

 Salvador, Guatemala) ; "flor de fmgel." " florito," "flor de pavo " (Colombia) ; 

 " hierba del ospanto," " ospanta-lobos," " gallito," " Santa Rosa." " flor de 



1 



