LEGUMINOS^E 



461 



Cassia Fistula, L. (fig. 301). 



Fruit a legume, linear, slightly compressed laterally, divided 

 into many cells transversely by ingrowths of the carpel, many-seeded, 

 thick, indehiscent. 



Seed rotund-obovate, much compressed dorso-ventrally, glabrous, 

 hard, shining ; testa thin, pale-coloured, and separating from 

 the tegmen, forming a broad white band down the middle of the 



C. 



PIG. 301. Cassia Fistula. A, oblique longitudinal section of seed, 

 x 6 : US, uncut surface ; EC, edges of cotyledons ; P, endosperm ; 

 OC, testa; 1C, tegmen. B, longitudinal section of seed at right 

 angles to the plane of the cotyledons, x 5 : R, radicle ; P, endo- 

 sperm. C, transverse section of seed, x 5 : P, endosperm ; C, coty- 

 ledons. 



ventral aspect, and a broader one along the dorsal aspect, while 

 round the edges it remains attached and appears deep buff 

 or brownish-yellow ; tegmen much thicker and brownish-yellow ; 

 micropyle and hilum contiguous, basal at the upper end of the 

 seed ; raphe ventral, forming a brown line almost obscured by 

 the white testa ; chalaza apical, at the farther end from the 

 hilum. 



