320 SYSTEMATIC BOTANY 



p. 179) as having the main rachis very short, only a 

 stout thorn, so that the pinnae appear to be so many 

 distinct, pinnate leaves, in fascicles. 



MIMOSE^E 



Examples : 



PlTHECOLOBlUM DULCE, jBenth. (Korukapuli). A 

 small tree often used for hedges. The young branches 

 are angular and marked by red lines running down them. 

 The leaves have each two pinnae, with two leaflets each ; 

 and stipules developed as thorns. There are often 

 several leaves apparently at one node, on account of the 

 non-development of the axillary branch on which they 

 arise. In the young leaves, the two leaflets of each 

 pinna, lie with their upper* faces in contact, and their 

 edges vertical. The two pinnae are in their turn close 

 together so that only the under surfaces of two of the 

 four leaflets are exposed to the air, and only the edge to 

 the midday sun. The leaf -scars and stipular thorns 

 persist and in old stems, two or three inches thick, are 

 often very conspicuous. The leaflets are obvate-oblong, 

 and oblique, from one to two inches long. 



Flowers in dense heads, half an inch wide, on short 

 peduncles. Calyx very small, funnel-shaped. Corolla, 

 funnel-shaped, its petals in bud valvate, and slightly 

 connected above, but not at, the base. Stamens nu- 

 merous united at the base, far exserted. Fruit one- 

 celled, four or five inches long, and indented between 

 the seeds and twisted when ripe. 



PITHECOLOBIUM SAMAN, Gr., the Rain-tree. A tree 

 with dark coloured stem and ascending branches often 

 planted by the road side. 



