LEGUMINOSA. 
134 SILVA OF NORTH AMERICA. 
red ariloid funicles; the testa is thin, dark chestnut-brown, lustrous, and marked on the two sides of 
the seed with a faint oval ring. 
Pithecolobium Unguis-cati is found in Florida on the shores of Caximbas Bay and on many of 
the southern keys, where it is generally distributed in the original forests and in the shrubby thickets 
which are replacing them on many of the islands ; in its arborescent form it is now most abundant on 
the larger of the eastern keys, and probably attains its greatest size in Florida on Elliott’s Key. It is 
widely and generally distributed through the Antilles and extends to Venezuela and New Granada. 
The wood of Pithecolobiwm Unguis-cati is very hard, heavy, and close-grained, and contains 
numerous inconspicuous medullary rays. 
It has a rich red color varying to purple, with thin clear 
yellow sapwood. The specific gravity of the absolutely dry wood is 0.9049, a cubic foot weighing 
56.39 pounds. 
The bark of Pithecolobium Unguis-cati is astringent and diuretic, and in Jamaica was at one 
time considered a sovereign cure for many diseases.’ 
The first description of Pithecolobium Unguis-cati appeared in the Paradisi Batavi Prodro- 
mus” of Paul Hermann, published in Amsterdam in 1689; according to Aiton,’ it was introduced 
into English gardens in 1690. 
1 The bark of the Nephritic-tree, as Pithecolobium Unguis-cati 
was once called in Jamaica, was, in the last century, according to 
Barham, then in such general use that it was hard to find a tree 
that had not been stripped. It was employed in the treatment of 
stone, gravel, and other urinary complaints, and of diseases of the 
(Barham, Hort. Amer. 111.) 
2 Unguis-cati arbor Americana siliquosa spinosa, 385. 
liver and spleen. 
Acacie similis spinosa, ceratonie foliis geminatis, floribus albis lanu- 
ginosis, siliqua compressa corniculata, seminibus nigerrimis splendenti- 
bus, Kiggelaer, Cat. Hort. Beaum. 3. 
Acacie quodammodo accedens, Myrobalano chebulo Veslingii similis 
arbor Americana spinosa, foliis Ceratonie in pediculo geminatis, sili- 
qua bivalvi, compressa, corniculata, seu cochlearum, vel arietinorum 
cornuum in modum incurvata ; sive Unguis-cati, Breyn, Prodr. ed. 
1739, 38. 
Acacie quodammodo accedens, s. Ceratie & Acacie media Jamai- 
censis spinosa bigeminatis foliis, flosculis stamineis, atronitente fructu, 
siliquis parum intortis, Plukenet, Phyt. t. 1, f. 6. 
Acacia arborea major spinosa, pinnis quatuor, majoribus, subrotun- 
dis, siliquis varie intortis, Sloane, Cat. Pl. Jam. 152 ; Fl. Jam. ii. 56. 
Mimosa foliis bigeminatis, Linneus, Hort. Cliff. 207. — Royen, 
Fil. Leyd. Prodr. 470. 
Acacia quadrifolia, siliquis circinatis, Plumier, Cat. 17; Pl. Am. 
ed. Burmann, 2, t. 4. 
The Moabite ; alias the Mangrove-Beard-Tree, Griffith Hughes, 
The Natural History of the Barbados, 193. 
8 Aiton, Hort. Kew. iii. 439. 
EXPLANATION OF THE PLATE. 
Puate CXLV. PrruecoLtosrum UNGuis-cATI. 
. Diagram of a flower. 
OCONOnr Pp WD 
be 
Ho 
. A seed, enlarged. 
bb be 
oo bo 
. An embryo, enlarged. 
. A flowering branch, natural size. 
A flower-head with all but one flower removed, enlarged. 
. A staminate flower, the corolla laid open, enlarged. 
. Vertical section of a pistillate flower, enlarged. 
Vertical section of a staminate flower, enlarged. 
. Front and rear views of an anther, enlarged. 
. An ovule, much magnified. 
. A fruiting branch, natural size. 
. A seed with its aril, enlarged. 
- Vertical section of a seed, enlarged. 
