Trachylobium.] xlvii. § cjesalpiniEjE (oliver). 311 



25. TRACHYLOBIUM, Hayne ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PI. i. 583. 



Calyx-tube very short, turbinate, segments 4, subequal, or the two 

 outer slightly shorter, much imbricate. Petals 5, subequal, all clawed 

 with a rotundate or cordate lamina, or the two anterior minute, squa- 

 miform. Stamens 10, free or very shortly coherent at base ; anthers 

 uniform, oblong-, dehiscing- longitudinally, versatile. Ovary shortly 

 stipitate, surrounded by a hirsute ring at the base ; style slender, gla- 

 brous -, stigma terminal, small ; ovules usually 4-5. Legume oblong, 

 ovoid or obovoid, stout, thickly coriaceous, coarsely verrucose, indehis- 

 cent (or tardily dehiscent). Seeds 1 or 2, oblong or ellipsoidal, exal- 

 buminous; the testa thickened internally at 4 equidistant points. — 

 Large unarmed resinous trees. Leaves 2-foliolate ; leaflets very ob- 

 lique, coriaceous, obscurely glandular-punctate. Stipules early cadu- 

 cous or obsolete. Flowers in terminal lax often straggling panicles, 

 white or red. Bracts and bracteoles rotundate, concave, caducous. 



Possibly indigenous only in Tropical Africa and the Mascarene Islands, though quasi- 

 spontaneous or cultivated here and there in Tropical Asia and the Archipelago. Very 

 nearly allied to the American genus Hymencea, which differs in the form of the petals 

 and legume. 



1. T. Hornemanniamim, Hayne, Arzneigew'dcTise, xi. t. 18. Wholly 

 glabrous excepting the tawny- or silky-pubescent inflorescence ; extre- 

 mities rather stout, terete. Leaflets unijugate, obliquely oblong or 

 elliptical, shortly and obtusely acuminate or apiculate, outer margin 

 at the base broadly rounded to the petiolule 1 or 2 lines below the base 

 of the narrow upper edge, coriaceous, shining, the eccentric midrib 

 prominent beneath, usually from 2^-3J (or 4) in. long, 1-1 J in. broad; 

 petiole J-l in. Panicles usually overtopping the leaves, the minutely 

 pubescent sometimes zigzag rachis giving off distichously lateral simple 

 (or compound) racemes. Bracts caducous, concave, orbicular, 1-2 

 lines broad ; bracteoles similar. Pedicels very short, 1-3 lines. Calyx 

 appressed-silky, segments obovate-elliptical or oblong, the inner very 

 slightly longer. Petals posterior and lateral subequal, twice or half 

 as long again as the calyx, lamina rotundate, abruptly or cuneately 

 narrowed into the distinct claw which exceeds the lamina in length ; 

 2 anterior petals squamiform, 1 line or less. Filaments glabrous, very 

 slightly connate at base. Ovules 4 or 5. Legume 1- or 2-seeded, stout, 

 oblong or obovoid, very obtuse, 1J-2 in. long, f-lj in. broad, f in. 

 thick, very coarsely resinously warted often with intermediate smaller 

 papillse. Seeds J-f in. long, thickly oblong. — T. Gcertnerianum, Hayne, 

 1. c. t. 19 (no doubt from a garden in Java) ; T. mossambicense, Klotzsch 

 in Peters' Mossamb. Bot. 21, t. 2. 



Mozamb. Distr. Zanzibar, Dr. Kirk! Rovuma Bay (leaf only), Dr. Kirk! 

 Querimba, Dr. Peters! 



This tree affords part if not all of the Copal of East Tropical Africa. It is very closely 

 allied to T. verrucosum (Hymencea verrucosa, G*rt. de Fruct. ii. 306, t. 139, fig. 7,) 

 of Madagascar. Almost the only difference which I can discover between the species 

 is in the petals ; in T. verrucosum the anterior petals nearly equal the rest, and are dis- 



