IO2 The F lowering' Plants of Western India. 



58. DlCHEOSTACHYS. 



* D. cinerea. A pretty thorny shrub, pinnae 5 to 10 pair, 

 leaflets 12 to 20 pair, strap-shaped, flowers yellow in drooping 

 cylindric spikes, the staminodes conspicuous, red, pod partly 

 jointed. Sigamkdti. 



Common in the Deccan (D. and (7.). Catch. 



59. MIMOSA. 



M. hamata. A thorny shrub, pinnae 3 to 5 pair, leaflets 6 

 to 10 pair, oval or oblong; heads of flowers pink, long-stalked, 

 pod curved with a border on each edge, and large hooked 

 prickles. Arkar. 



Deccan, Guzerat, and Cutch : pretty common. 



M. rulricaulis, closely allied to this, but flowers reddish, becoming 

 white, pod longer and thinner ; Malabar Hill (D. and 6). E. Deccan. 

 Ardi. 



M. pudica, Idjdlu Idjdri, generally called the sensitive plant, is said 

 by H. to be spread through the hotter parts of India, possibly intro- 

 duced from tropical America. Often cultivated on account of the 

 sensitive leaves, 



" For the sensitive plant has no bright flower, 

 Radiance and odour are not its dower." Shelley. 



"Some sensitive plants were formerly called 'humble plants,' be- 

 cause not only the leaflets close, but the whole leaf bends down." 

 Martyn. 



" One of the Mimosas drops its branches whenever any person 

 approaches, seeming as if it saluted those who retire under its shade. 

 This mute hospitality has so endeared the tree to the Arabians that 

 the injuring or cutting of it dowu is strictly prohibited." Niebuhr. 



To this tribe belongs Par/act biglandulosa, cJienduphu!,a, striking and 

 beautiful garden tree, but not very common, the flowers forming 

 large ballp, like brown velvet when in bud, hanging down from a 

 long stalk. 



(b) AcACIE^E. 



60. ACACIA. 



Note. Most or all of the species have glands on the petiole, or 

 between the pinnae, or both, but they do not seem constant enough in 

 number or position to make it necessary to describe them. 



(a) Flowers in round heads, thorns straight. 



1. A. Ardbica. A tree with white thorns, pinnae 2 to 6 pair, 

 leaflets 10 to 20 pair, linear nearly smooth, heads of flowers 

 yellow, fragrant, stalked, with broad membranous bracts half 

 way down the peduncle ; pod flat, linear, downy, depressed 

 between the seeds. Babul. 



This well-known tree is common in most parts except near the 

 coast, as it, like the majority of the genus, is essentially a tree of dry 



