88 SILVA OF NORTH AMERICA. LEGUMINOS. 
sudorific, a remedy against epilepsy,’ and a means for producing abortion.? The young branches of 
Parkinsonia microphylla are greedily eaten by domestic animals, and are gathered in considerable 
quantities for fodder * by the inhabitants of the islands of the Gulf of California. 
The genus, established by Plumier * and adopted by Linnzus, was dedicated to John Parkinson.° 
1 Torrey, Bot. Mex. Bound. Surv. 59. 4 Nov. Pl. Am. Gen. 25, t. 3. 
2 Havard, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. viii. 501. 5 See ante, 16. 
8 Vasey & Rose, Contrib. U. S. Nat. Herb. No. 3, 82. 
CONSPECTUS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN SPECIES. 
Flowers in long slender racemes; petals imbricated in estivation; legumes one to eight- 
seeded; leaves long, the rachises of the pinne flat, wing-margined, many-foliolate ; 
branches armed with the enlarged spinescent rachises of the primary leaves . . . . 1. P. ACULEATA. 
Flowers in short racemes ; petals valvate in zstivation; legumes one to three-seeded ; leaves 
short, rachises of their pinnz terete, eight to twelve-foliolate; branches unarmed. . . . 2. P. MICROPHYLLA. 
