Cassia.] XXXI. LEGUMINOS^E. 165 



In Northern and Central India a small tree, rarely exceeding 30 ft., with a 

 short trunk 3-5 ft. girth. Bark thick (f in.), yellowish or greenish grey, darker 

 in old stems, with cross- wrinkles and shallow longitudinal cracks, and brown, 

 irregularly shaped, exfoliating scales. Sapwood large, heartwood brick - red 

 when fresh-cut, red or reddish brown when seasoned, often beautifully mottled 

 and streaked, hard, tough, works easily, takes a fine polish, but is somewhat 

 brittle, and apt to crack. The cub. ft. of green wood weighs 72-78 lb. ; for 

 seasoned wood, Skinner gives the average at 61, the extremes of the experiments 

 available are 52 and 66. The coefficient of transverse strength (P.) is 846 (Skin- 

 ner). The annual rings are fairly distinct, the pores large, uniformly distri- 

 buted, save occasionally in a narrow line of autumn wood without pores. Each 

 pore in a patch of white tissue, and these patches joined by wavy lines of similar 

 tissue. Very durable, but large pieces are rare. Used for posts, ploughs, bows, 

 and spars of native boats. Axles of carts are made of it in Burma. 



The bark is used for tanning and dyeing ; red juice exudes from wounds in 

 the bark, which hardens into a gum, called Kamarkas, used like the gum of 

 Butea frondosa. The pulp which fills the pod is a strong purgative, used 

 largely in native medicine, as well as in Europe (Pharm. Ind. 65). Twigs and 

 leaves are lopped for cattle-fodder in Oudh and Kamaon. 



2. C. auriculata, Linn. ; W. & A. Prodr. 290. Syn. Senna auriculata, 

 Eoxb. El. Ind. ii. 349. Vern. Tarwar, Aival. 



Pubescent. Leaves 3-5 in. long; leaflets 8-12 pair, oval, obtuse, mu- 

 cronate, with short filiform glands at the base of each pair. Stipules 

 large, foliaceous, semicordate. Flowers yellow, in terminal, corymbose, 

 leaf-bearing panicles. Calyx-lobes unequal, petals equal, ovate, unguicu- 

 late, twice the length of calyx. Perfect stamens 6 or 7, with long cylin- 

 drical anthers ; antherless staminodes 3 or 4. Pod flat, 3-4 in. long, \ in. 

 broad, with 4-6 seeds. 



A shrub, common in South and Central India, also in Eajputana. The bark 

 is used for tanning and dyeing leather, and the root in the manufacture of steel. 

 Fl. Oct.-March. 



To this genus belong the plants which yield the Senna leaves (Pharm. 

 Ind. 65). They are shrubs, undershrubs, or herbs, leaves without glands, 

 flowers in axillary racemes ; pods flat, broad, arcuate, dehiscent ; natives 

 of tropical Africa; the following 3 species extending to North- West 

 India, and 2 of them to the dry belt of South India. 



3. C. obovata, Colladon; Boiss. Fl. Orient, ii. 631. Syn. Senna 

 obtusa, Eoxb. Fl. Ind. ii. 344. Cassia obtusa, W. & A. Prodr. 288 ; 

 Wight Ic. t. 757. 



A diffuse procumbent perennial herb, with glabrous, obovate, obtuse 

 leaflets in 3-7 pairs ; stipules obliquely lanceolate, acuminate, spreading 

 or decurved. Eacemes erect, at length exceeding the subtending leaf. 

 Pod oblong-reniform, broadly rounded at the extremity, the valves thinly 

 coriaceous, and marked longitudinally over the seeds with a single series 

 of rounded crest-like plaits. 



Salt range to 2500 ft. (sanna), and Trans-Indus (jijari), Sindh, Guzerat, South 

 India, tropical Africa. 



