MaeroloMum.] xlvii. § cjesalpinie.e (oliver). 297 



16. MACROLOBIUM, Schreb. ; Benth. et Hook. f. 

 Gen. Plant, i. 579. 



Buds enclosed between valvate bracteoles until flowering. Calyx- 

 tube very short, turbinate ; calyx-limb 4-partite, segments subequal in 

 length, posterior usually broader bifid or emarginate, or 5-paitite lobes 

 subequal (in M. demonstratis). Posterior petal unguiculate or subsessile, 

 lamina 2-lobed ; lateral and anterior petals much smaller or squami- 

 form, or 2 lateral nearly equalling and similar to the posterior. Perfect 

 stamens 3, exserted ; filaments free, elongate ; anthers oblong or ellip- 

 tical, dehiscing longitudinally, versatile ; staminodia variously abortive 

 or or occasionally subulate and antheriferous. Ovary shortly stipi- 

 tate or subsessile ; style usually filiform, stigma terminal. Ovules 3-10. 

 Legume oblong or broadly oblong oblique, flattened, coriaceous, ventral 

 suture sometimes thickened and grooved ; few-several-seeded. Seeds 

 large compressed roundish or quadrate, exalbuminous ; cotyledons 

 usually fleshy; radicle short, straight, included. — Unarmed trees or 

 shrubs. Leaves usually 1— 6-jugate ; stipules foliaceous or incon- 

 spicuous. Flowers rather small in simple or compound, solitary or 

 fascicled, contracted or elongate, terminal or axillary racemes. Bracts 

 minute, deciduous. Bracteoles geminate, valvate, enclosing the bud, 

 spreading during flowering. 



A considerable genus as circumscribed by Mr. Bentham, chiefly Tropical American. 

 The following species are endemic. Perhaps Berlinia ought to be united with Macro- 

 lobium, but as there remains usually a difference in the number of perfect stamens, so 

 far as species hitherto examined are concerned, the genera may remain until further 

 discoveries enable us to judge how to treat them. 



Stipules inconspicuous or at flowering. Calyx-lobes 4, posterior 

 shortly bifid. 

 Posterior petal distinctly clawed ; 4 smaller petals subequal 



inter se. Racemes 1-6 in., often fascicled 1. M. Palisoti. 



Posterior and 2 lateral petals subsimilar, obcordate, subsessile, 



2 anterior squamiform. Racemes elongate 2. if. Heudelotii. 



Stipules of leaves undescribed, of bracts subtending branches of 

 panicle 4 in. Calyx-lobes 5, subequal. Posterior petal dis- 

 tinctly clawed. Panicles 4 ft 3. M. demonstrans. 



Stipules present at flowering, sheathing, 2 in. long. Flowers in 

 dense fascicled compound racemes or panicles, 2-3 in. long, 

 from old wood 4. if. stipulaceum. 



1. M. Palisoti, Benth. in Linn. Trans, xxv. 308. Tree attaining 

 30 or 40 ft., extremities glabrous or minutely puberulous. Leaves 

 2-3-4-jugate, one leaflet of the terminal pair occasionally wanting, 

 rachis 2|-6 in., subterete ; leaflets rather coriaceous, 3-8 (9).in. long, 

 1J-3 (4)" in. broad, oblong-elliptical or obovate-elliptical shortly acu- 

 minate or apiculate, rounded or broadly cuneate at base, glabrous and 

 shining above, closely and obscurely silvery-sericeous with prominent 

 midrib beneath, lateral nervures rather prominent, subdistant, curving 

 forward j petiolules articulated to rachis, 2-4 lines long ; stipules not 

 observed. Flowers usually in short, fascicled, or sometimes solitary, 



