98 FLOKA OF JAMAICA Poindana 



Poiuciana, Flamboyant, Flame Tree. 



Cultivated and subspontaneous ; yellow-flowered form, Bull Bay, Harris ! 

 cultivated in tropics, native of Madagascar. 



Tree 30-40 ft. high. Leaves 2-3 (6) dm. 1. ; pinnsB in 15 (11-18) pairs, 

 5-10 cm. 1. ; leaflets in 12-25 pairs, linear-oblong, 5-8 mm 1., glaucous 

 beneath. Racemes shorter than the leaves, with bright scarlet flowers, 

 very rarely yellow or orange. Sepals 2-S-5 cm. 1., 5-8 mm.br. Petals 

 somewhat roundish with long claws, unequal, 4-6 cm. 1., 3-4-5cm.br. 

 Stamens shorter than the petals. Pod 20-50 cm. 1., 5-6 cm. br.] 



[PARKINSONIA L. 



Trees. Leave.s apparently simply pinnate and clustered, but 

 in fact bipinnate, with a very short petiole ; rhachis prolonged 

 above the insertion of the pinnae into a persistent rigid sharp 

 pointed spine; pinnte 2 or 4, very long, flattened and with wing- 

 like margins, often falling and leaving scars at the base of the 

 spine ; leaflets numerous, minute, often falling or abortive ; 

 stipules in the form of short curved prickles, often falling and 

 leaving scars at the base of the spine ; the axillary branch is 

 sometimes abortive, except that the leaves are developed forming 

 an addition to the primary one. Flowers racemose, yellow. 

 Calyx 5-cleft, segments nearly equal, narrowly imbricate or 

 subvalvate. Petals spreading somewhat unequal, the uppermost 

 broader. Stamens hairy at base. Ovules numerous. Pod 

 narrow, acuminate at both ends, constricted between the seeds, 

 2-valved. Seeds oblong ; embryo with horny endosperm along 

 the sides. 



Species 3 or 4, one a native of southern Africa, the rest of 

 tropical and subtropical parts of America, one (P. aculeata L.) 

 being now found generally in the tropics. 



P. aculeata L. Sjp. PL 375 (1753); Jacq. Sel. Stirp. Amer. 

 121, t. 80 & Ed. inct. t. 119; Wright Mem. 267 ; Descourt. FL 

 Ant. i. /. 12; Ma(rf. Jam. i. 334; Griseb. FL Br. W. Ind. 204; 

 Sarg. Silv. in. 89, t. 131. P. aculeata &c. Plum Nuv. PL Amer. 

 Gen. 25, t. S ; L. Hort. Cliff. 157, L 13 ; Browne Hist. Jam. 222, 

 Specimen in Herb. Linn, named in Solander's hand. 



Jerusalem Thorn. 



Browne I W7ight I cultivated, round Kingston, Brotighton I Shakespear 

 Port Royal, McNabl Kingston, Campbelll Hitchcock. — Cultivated and 

 often naturalized in tropical and subtropii al regions. Browne states that 

 it was introduced into Jamaica from the mainland, where it is must likely 

 native. 



A shrub or small tree 12-30 ft. high. Spines about 3 cm. 1. Pinnae 

 l'5-3 dm. 1. ; leaflets linear or oblanceolate, obtuse, 2-6 mm. 1. Racemes 

 lax, slender, shorter than the leaves, 12-15 cm. 1. Petals about 1*2 cm. 1., 

 bright yellow, the upper one with red spots below, imbricate. Stamens 

 much shorter than the petals. Pod 6-12 cm. 1., dark orange-brown. 

 Seeds 1-8, distant from one another, about 1 cm. 1.] 



