90 SILVA OF NORTH AMERICA. LEGUMINOS&. 
India Islands,’ in many of the countries of Central and South America,’ and in tropical Africa*® and 
Asia.' 
The wood of Parkinsonia aculeata is heavy, hard, and very close-grained, and contains numerous 
thin conspicuous medullary rays and small evenly distributed open ducts; it is light brown with very 
thick lighter colored sapwood tinged with yellow. The specific gravity of the absolutely dry wood 1s 
0.6116, a cubic foot weighing 38.11 pounds. 
Parkinsonia aculeata was first described by Plumier in the Nova Plantarum Americanarum 
Genera,® published in 1703 ; it was cultivated in the Physic Garder at Chelsea in England by Philip 
Miller in 1739,° and has quickly spread through many warm countries, where it is valued for its har- 
diness and rapid growth, for the strange appearance of its long fine narrow leaves and the beauty of 
its perennial flowers, and for its usefulness as a hedge plant. The Retama, which is the name given to 
Parkinsonia aculeata by the inhabitants of the regions bordering the Rio Grande, is often found in 
the gardens of southern Europe’ and in those of western Texas; and it may now be seen growing 
spontaneously in the neighborhood of many of the towns of Texas, northern Mexico, and southern 
California. 
1 Jacquin, Stirp. Am. 121, t. 80; Pl. Rar. Amer. 61, t. 119. — 
Icon. Am. Géwach. ii. 31, t. 185.— Lunan, Hort. Jam. i. 398. — 
Descourtilz, Fl. Med. Antil. i. 54, t. 12.— Macfadyen, Fl. Jam. 
334.— Richard, Fl. Cub. ii. 221.—Grisebach, Fl. Brit. W. Ind. 
204; Pl. Lorenz. 81.— Eggers, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus. No. 13, 46. 
° Bentham, Martius Fl. Brasil. xv. pt. ii. 78, t. 26. 
8 Oliver, Fl. Trop. Afr. ii. 267. 
4 Roxburgh, Hort. Beng. 31. — Wight & Arnott, Prodr. Fl. Ind. 
284. — Miquel, Fl. Ind. Bat. i. pt. i. 115. — Beddome, Fl. Sylv. S. 
Ind. ii. xci. t. 13, f. 2. — Hooker f. Fl. Brit. Ind. ii. 260. — Gamble, 
Man. Indian Timbers, 134. 
5 Parkinsonia aculeata, foliis minutis, uni coste adnexis, 25, t. 3. 
Parkinsonia aculeata, foliis Mimose uni coste adfixis, Gleditsch, 
Hort. Walth. 36, t. 13. 
Parkinsonia, Linneus, Hort. Cliff. 157, t. 13; Hort. Ups. 99.— 
Royen, Fl. Leyd. Prodr. 465. 
Parkinsonia aculeata, foliolis minutissimis pinnatis, pennd longiori 
compressa ; the Jerusalem Thorn, Browne, Nat. Hist. Jam. 222. 
6 Aiton, Hort. Kew. ii. 49. 
™ Naudin, Manuel de l’Acclimateur, 392. 
EXPLANATION OF THE PLATE. 
PuLateE CXXXT. ParxkINsONIA ACULEATA. 
. Diagram of a flower. 
CONAMTER WD 
bh 
—] 
. An embryo, enlarged. 
. A flowering branch, natural size. 
- The petals of a flower displayed, natural size. 
- Vertical section of a flower, the corolla removed, enlarged. 
An ovule, much magnified. 
. A cluster of fruit, natural size. 
. A portion of a legume, one of the valves removed, natural size. 
- Cross section of a seed, natural size. 
. Vertical section of a seed, enlarged. 
