98 LEGCMiNOS.f:. \^Cassia. 



32. CASSIA, Limi. 



Sepals 5, somewhat unequal, scarcely connected at the base. Petals 5, 

 usually unequal, spreading. Stamens usually 10, either aU equal and fertile 

 or the' upper ones small and sterile, with 2 or more of the lower fertile ones 

 much larger. Anthers, when fertile, opening at the end only, in pores or short 

 slits. Ovary with several ovules. Pod cylindrical or flattened, usually long, 

 but variously shaped. Seeds usually oblong and transverse, with a small 

 quantity of albumen. Eadicle short and straight. — Herbs, shrubs, or trees. 

 Leaves abruptly pinnate, the leaflets opposite. 



A large genus, widely distributed within the tropics, but particularly numerous in South 

 America. 

 S(!pals obtuse. Upper stamens small and sterile. 



Leaflets 4 to 6 pair, acute. A gland near the base of the petigle . 1. C. occidentalis. 



Leaflets 2 to 3 pair, very obtuse. A gland between the leaflets of the 



lowest pair 2. C. tora. 



Sepals acute. Stamens all fertile. Leaflets numerous 3. C. mimosoides. 



1. C. occidentalis, Linn.; Vog. St/u. Cass. 21 ; Bot. Reg. t. 83. An 

 erect glabrous annual, 3 to 5 ft. high, sometimes hard at the base, so as to 

 appear woody. Leaflets 4- to 6 pair, ovate-lanceolate or lanceolate, 1 or 2 in. 

 or in luxuriant specimens 3 in. long^ with an ovate gland on the petiole near 

 the base. Racemes terminal, short and few-flowered, with occasionally a few 

 flowers on short pedicels in the upper axils. Plow^ers yellow. Two of the 

 anthers large, oblong, 4 or 5 others like them, but smaller, the 3 uppermost 

 small and sterile. Pod linear, slightly curved, 3 to 5 in. long, about 3 lines 

 broad, at first flat, with the edges thickened, but becoming at length nearly as 

 thick as broad. 



Common in waste places, Haiice and others. Widely dispersed, as a weed, over the 

 warmer regions of the globe, especially in America and Africa. 



2. C. tora, Linn.; Vog.Syn. Cass. 23. An annual, of 1 to about 3 ft., 

 spreading or erect, the stem nearly glabrous. Leaflets 2 or 3 pair, ovate- 

 cuneate, obtuse, mucronate, 1 in. long or rather more, usually pubescent under- 

 neath, with a cylindrical gland between the leaves of the 1 or 2 lower pair. 

 Flowers yellow, usually 2 together in the upper axils. Anthers 7 fertile, 3 

 very small and abortive. Pod very narrow, nearly quadrangular, 4 to 8 in. 

 long, straight or slightly curved. — C. ohtuslfolia, Linn. ; Vog. Syn. Cass. 24. 



Hongkong, Ilance. A common weed in tropical Asia and some parts of Am.erica. 



3. C. mimosoides, Linn. ; Vog. Syn. Cass. 68. An annual or perennial 

 of short duration, with a hard often almost woody base, and numerous difi'use 

 or ascending wiry stems, 1 to 1^ ft. long, more or less pubescent. Leaves 1\ 

 to 2 in. long. Leaflets numerous (20 to 50 pair), linear-falcate, and mucro- 

 nate, seldom above 2 lines long. Pedicels axillary, solitary or several toge- 

 ther, unequal, but seldom above ^ in. long. Sepals about 3 lines long and 

 very acute. Petals yellow, scarcely longer. Pod linear, flat, 1^ to 2 in. long, 

 scarcely 2 lines broad, slightly curved or oblique. — C. angitstissima, Lam. 



Victoria Peak and other localities, Chamjjion and others. Widely spread over tropical 

 Asia and Africa, and difficult to distinguish from some of the common species of the Chamce- 

 crista section from tropical America. 



Several shrubby Cassias, and especiafly the C. ionieniosn, are said to be much planted in 

 the sai'dens and about the houses of the Chinese. 



