Ccesalpinia.] XXXI. LEGUMINOSiE. 157 



Burma, and Bengal, with yellow flowers in large terminal panicles, unequal- 

 sided leaflets, and thick, woody, smooth, shining, dark-brown pods, broader at 

 top, obliquely truncate and mucronate. The wood, which yields a valuable dye, 

 is largely exported from Calcutta, Madras, Ceylon, and Siam. 



C. Nuga, Ait. Syn. C. paniculata, Roxb. 1. c. 364 ; Wight Ic. t. 36, 

 Bengal, Indian Archipelago, is a prickly climber, with short rhomboid, cuspi- 

 date, 1-seeded pods. 



3. C. pulcherrima, Sw. Syn. Poinciana pulcherrima, Linn. ; Eoxb. 

 Fl. Ind. ii. 355 ; W. & A. Prodr. 282. Vern. Krishna-chum, Beng. 



A large shrub. Glabrous, armed with a few scattered prickles. Pinnae 

 3-9 pair, leaflets 5-10 pair, obovate-oblong, obtuse or emarginate. Flowers 

 large, orange or bright yellow, on long pedicels, more than twice the 

 length of flowers, supported by early caducous, subulate bracts, in ter- 

 minal pyramidal racemes. Calyx-tube turbinate, segments oblong, the 

 inferior segment larger, hood-shaped. Petals J-l in. long, narrowed into a 

 claw, edge often lacerate. Style and stamens much longer than corolla ; 

 filaments slightly hairy below, stigma minute. Legume linear-oblong, flat, 

 obliquely rounded at the top. 



Cultivated in gardens in most parts of India. Said originally to have been 

 brought from the Moluccas. In the West Indies it is either indigenous, or nat- 

 uralised at a very early date (Macf. Fl. Jam. 331). 



C. coriaria, Willd., the Divi-divi or Libi-dibi, is a spreading tree 20-30 ft. 

 high, indigenous in the West Indies and Central America, unarmed, glabrous, 

 with bipinnate leaves, pinnae unpaired, leaflets linear ; flowers white, scented, 

 in short compound racemes, and broad, oblong, glabrous, twisted pods. The 

 pods are rich in tannin. The tree has been introduced into Western and South 

 India, and its cultivation deserves to be extended, as it yields valuable material 

 for tanning. 



Three splendid ornamental, soft-wooded trees, nearly related to Ccesalpinia, 

 are largely cultivated in India. 1. Poinciana regia, Bojer, Bot. Mag. t. 2884, 

 a native of Madagascar, introduced into India within the last 60 years, and 

 commonly grown in gardens north-west as far as the Jumna, with 8-20 pair of 

 pinnae, large bright-scarlet flowers, in terminal and axillary racemes ; petals 2-3 

 times longer than calyx-lobes, 2 in/ long, almost orbicular, tapering into claws 

 1 in. long, the upper petal more cuneate, variegated and striated with red and 

 yellow ; stamens nearly as long as petals. Pods 2 in. broad, 20-24 in. long. 

 2. P. elata, Linn., Bedd. Fl. Sylv. t. 178, indigenous in forests of the western 

 and eastern coasts of the Peninsula, as far north as Guzerat, common near 

 towns and villages in Marwar (Madden), and cultivated largely in South 

 India, with yellowish flowers in lax corymbs, terminal or from the upper 

 axils, petals somewhat longer than calyx, 1 in. long, on short claws, with a 

 rounded lamina, much curled on the margin, stamens much exceeding petals, 

 2-4 in. long. 3. Colvillea racemosa, Bojer, Bot. Mag. t. 3325, 3326, with large 

 leaves, pinnae 20-30 pairs, bright-scarlet flowers in erect, compact, cylindri- 

 cal racemes, 18 in. long, terminal and from the upper axils, petals as long as 

 calyx, unequal, the upper and inside petal orbicular, convolute, the 2 lateral 

 petals longer, cuneate, the 2 upper longest, falcate. This tree was discovered 

 on the western coast of Madagascar by Professor Bojer in 1824, brought by him 

 to the Mauritius, and introduced into India about 1840. Generically, these 2 

 genera differ from Co3salpinia by a valvate calyx, consisting in Poinciana of 

 5 equal segments, while Colvillea has 4, of which the 2 uppermost are connate 

 nearly to the top. 



