01' CKNTKAJ. AFRICA. 289 



conntiT, by whom it is called Doura. According to Cap- 

 tain Clappertoii, " The seeds are roasted as we roast coffee, 

 then bruised, and allowed to ferment in water ; when they 

 begin to become |)utrid, they are well washed and })0unded ; 

 the powder made into cakes, somewhat in the fashion of our 

 chocolate ; they form an excellent sauce for all kinds of 

 food. The farinaceous matter surrounding the seed is 

 made into a pleasant drink, and they also make it into a 

 sweetmeat." The Doura of Captain Clapperton is })robably 

 not specifically different from the Nitta mentioned by Park 

 in his ' rirst Journey'; nor from Inga biglobosa of the ' Flore 

 d'Oware' of i\[. De Beauvois, according to whom it is the 

 Nety of Senegal ; and he also well remarks that Inga 

 biglobosa, described by Jacquin as a native of ]Martinico, 

 has probably been introduced into that island by the 

 Negroes, as he himself found it to have been in St. Do- 

 mingo. 



Inga Senegalensis of M. De Candolle {Prodr. 2,j). 442) 

 may also belong to the same species. 



It is possible, how-ever, that some of the plants here 

 mentioned, though very nearly related to each other, and 

 having all the same remarkable club-shaped spike, may 

 be specifically distinct ; for it appears from specimens col- 

 lected at Sierra Leone by Professor Afzelius that two im 

 plants having this form of spike are known in that colony, 

 and two species, with similar inflorescence, probably dis- 

 tinct from those of Africa, are described in the manuscript 

 'Flora Indica' of Dr. Roxburgh. All these plants possess 

 characters fully sufficient to distinguish them from Inga, to 

 which they have hitherto been referred. The new genus 

 which they form, one of the most striking and beautiful in 

 equinoctial Africa, I have named Parkia,^ as a tribute of 



PARKIA. 



OuD. Nat. Lef/uminosa-Mlmosca; : Crcsalpincis proximuni genus. 



CiiAii. Gen. 'Cali/x tubulosus ore bilabiate (5); cTstivatione iinbricata ! 

 Pelalah, subccqualia, supremo (paulo) latiore; restivatione connivcnti-imbri- 

 cata. Stamina decern, hypogyna, nionadelpha. Legumen polyspcrmum : epi- 

 carpio bivalvi ; endocarjjio hi loculos nionospermos oarcocarpio fariuaceo tcctos 

 solubili. 



Arbores {J/ricana et Indite crientalis) inemes. Folia Uinnnata, innnis folio- 



19 



