306. LYSILOMA BAHAMENSIS WILD TAMARIND. n 



northernmost distribution on the Bahamas and in extreme southern 

 Florida. 



The name is from Greek roots referring to the separating of the 

 sides of the pods from their margins in liberating the seeds. 



306. LYSILOMA BAHAMENSIS BENTH. 



\YILD TAMARIND. 

 Ger., 1 Tilde Tamarind e. Fr., Tamarin sauvage. 



Sp., Tamarind o silvestre. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTERS : Leaves about 4 or 5 in. long, glabrous, with slender 

 petioles about i in. long and bearing a prominent gland near the first of the 2-5 

 pairs of pinna?, which are 1/^-3 in. long, the lowermost pair the longest, and 

 each bearing 8-30 pairs of oblong, sessile, entire smooth leaflets /4~^2 in. long 

 bluntly pointed at apex and unequally rounded at base. Flowers, appearing in 

 Florida in April and May, in axillary or terminal solitary or racemose clusters 

 of globose, tomentose heads with peduncles Y\ to i l /2 in. long and acute mem- 

 branous bracts and bractlets, the flowers themselves about Y$ in. long and the 

 head when flowers are full open about 2-3 in. in diameter ; calyx bell-shaped 

 with 5 short lobes ; corolla twice as long, with short lobes reflexed ; stamens 

 about 20, twice as long as corolla, their slender filaments united into a tube at 

 base; pistil with smooth ovary and filiform style. Fruit, mature in autumn, the 

 flat pods 4-5 in. long and i in. broad, with slender stems 1-2 in. long and 2-3 

 together on peduncles enlarged at apex, the thin papery valves finally separating 

 from the firm margins at maturity and liberating the lustrous dark brown oblong 

 seeds, which are about ^2 in. long. 



A handsome distinct tree which sometimes attains the height of 

 50 or 60 ft. (15111.), with lofty wide-spreading flattened top, but with 

 rather short trunk sometimes 3 ft. (0.90111.) in diameter, wide- 

 buttressed at base. The bark of branches and young trunks is smooth 

 and of a grayish white color. On old trunks it becomes fissured into 

 rather firm grayish brown scales. 



HABITAT. The Hammocks of extreme southern Florida and 

 adjacent Keys, the Bahamas and Cuba, growing in sandy, well-drained 

 soil. It is rare on the mainland of Florida and only in the vicinity of 

 Bay Biscayne, but common on some of the larger keys. 



PHYSICAL PROPERTIES. Wood heavy, hard, tough, with very uni- 

 formly distributed open ducts, rather obscure annual rings and fine 

 medullary rays. It is of a rich mottled reddish brown color with 

 nearly white sap-wood. Specific Gravity, 0.6418; Percentage of Ash, 



