590 



TREES OF NORTH AMERICA 



or rarely polygamous, minute, usually white or greenish white, from the axils of minute 

 bractlets more or less dilated at apex, in globose many-flowered heads, on axillary solitary 

 or fascicled peduncles; calyx campanulate, 5-toothed; corolla funnel-shaped, of 5 petals 

 united for more than half their length; stamens generally 12-30, exserted; filaments fili- 

 form, united at base into a tube free from the corolla; anthers minute, ovoid, versatile; 

 ovary sessile, contracted into a slender subulate style, with a minute terminal stigma. 

 Legume broad, straight, compressed, submembranaceous, the valves at maturity separat- 

 ing from the undivided margins, continuous within, their outer layer thin and papery, 

 dark-colored, the inner rather thicker, pale yellow. Seeds compressed, transverse, sus- 

 pended by a long slender funicle, the hilum near the base; seed-coat thin, crustaceous; 

 radicle slightly exserted. 



Lysiloma with about ten species inhabits tropical America from southern Florida and 

 the Bahama Islands, the West Indies, Mexico and Lower California, to Central America 

 and Bolivia. Several of the species produce valuable timber. 



The generic name, from Xftm and Xw/za, refers to the separation of the valves from the 

 margins of the legume. 



1. Lysiloma bahamensis Benth. Wild Tamarind. 



Leaves 4'-5' long, glabrous or sometimes slightly puberulous, with slender petioles 

 1' long, marked near the middle with an elevated gland, enlarged and slightly glandular 

 at base, and 2-6 pairs of short-stalked 40-80-foliolate pinnae ; stipules foliaceous, ovate 

 or ovate-oblong, acuminate, auriculate and semicordate at base, \' long, usually cadu- 

 cous; leaflets obliquely ovate or oblong, obtuse or acute, more or less united at base 

 by the greater development of one of the sides, sessile or short-petiolulate, entire, retic- 

 ulate-veined, light green, paler on the lower than on the upper surface, \'-\' long, 

 and \'-\' wide. Flowers about \' long, in heads appearing in Florida early in April, 

 coated before the flowers open with thick pale tomentum, and after the exsertion of the 

 stamens f ' in diameter, on peduncles f '-!' long, solitary or fascicled in the axils of upper 



Fig. 541 



leaves, their bracts and bractlets acute, membranaceous, caducous; calyx 5-toothed, 

 pilose on the outer surface, especially above the middle, tV long, and half as long as the 

 5-lobed corolla with reflexed lobes; stamens about 20, twice as long as the corolla, united 

 for one fourth of their length into a slender tube. Fruit ripening in the autumn and 

 persistent on the branches 'until after the flowering period of the following year, stipi- 

 tate, gradually narrowed and acute at the ends, 4'-5' long, 1' broad, with a slender stem 1'- 



