FABACEJE, OR LEGUMINOSJE. 



A bush, about 10 feet high : branches terete, ash-coloured, sometimes 

 unarmed ; branchlets flexuose, glabrous ; spines stipulary, short, straight. 

 Leaves bipinnate : leaflets 1 -paired sessile, very obtuse or subemarginate 

 at the apex, nerved, glabrous : petiole subulate, channelled above. A 

 minute gland at the extremity of the common, and another at that of 

 the partial petioles. Racemes terminal, of 2-3 simple branches. Pedun- 

 cle angular, minutely downy. Flowers greenish yellow, sessile, fur- 

 nished at the insertion with a minute ovate bractlet. Calyx small, 5- 

 toothed, with the teeth rather indistinct. Corolla more than twice the 

 length of the calyx, 5-fid, with the teeth acute. Filaments capillary, 

 yellow, matted, three times the length of the corolla. Legumes red, 

 torulose, twisted in a spiral manner : seeds 5-6, black, shining, 

 roundish, compressed, half-buried in a snow-white fleshy arillus-like 

 pellicle. A decoction of the bark very astringent. It has the reputa- 

 tion of acting as a diuretic, and has been employed externally as a lotion 

 and injection in cases of relaxation of the parts. Macfadyen, 



272 



