LEGUMINOS.S. 335 



broad, binervose, and frequently bidentate at the 

 apex. Petals 3, alternate with the superior sepals ; 

 2 of them ovate and hooded at the middle. Stamens 

 9-10 ; 2-3 longer than the rest, monadelphous, an- 

 ther-bearing ; 7 very short, sterile. Style subulate. 

 Legume pedicelled, scimitar-shaped, compressed, 1- 

 celled, 3-6-seeded ; valves pulpy between the epi- 

 spermium and the endospermium : seeds obliquely 

 truncated at the hilum, ovato-quadrate ; cotyledons 

 unequal at the base. De Cand. 



Name, Latinized from the Arabic Tamer-hindy, Indian-date. 



1 . Tamarindus occidentalis. West-India Tamarind. 



Legumes abbreviated the length scarcely 3 times 

 the breadth, 1-4-seeded by abortion. 



Blackw. Herb. t. 201. Jacq. Amer. 10. t. 18. et t. 179. f. 

 98. Gartn. Fruct. II. 310. t. 146. De Cand. Prod. II. 489. 



HAB. Common in the plains. 



FL. April. 



A lofty spreading tree. Leaves alternate: leaflets 15- 

 paired, oblong, rounded or subemarginate at the apex, glabrous. 

 Racemes subterminal, half the length of the leaves. 



I doubt the propriety of considering this as a distinct species 

 from the T. INDICA, or East-India Tamarind. The only dif- 

 ference between them is, that the pods of the West India tree 

 are much shorter and fewer-seeded, than those of the East India 

 variety ; the latter being 6 times broader than their length, and 

 8-12-seeded. This, however, may probably be owing to the 

 soil and climate in these Islands, not. being so congenial as in 

 their native region. We are informed by Ainslie,* that the 

 Tamarinds of Java and of the depending Island Madura, are 

 the best in India. In this Island, the tree bears most abun- 

 dantly in the rich deep mould of the plains. 



The pulp of the Tamarind contains citric acid, malic acid, 

 supertartrate of potash, sugar, gum mucilage, and other vege- 

 table principles. The East- India Tamarinds are preserved 

 without sugar, being merely dried in the sun, when they are 

 intended to be exported from one part of the Archipelago to 

 another, and cured in salt when they are to be sent to Europe. 

 In the West Indies, the pulp is usually packed in small kegs 

 between layers of sugar, and hot syrup is poured on the whole. 

 In order to enable them to keep without fermentation for a 



Materia Indica, I. 426. 



