224 LEGUMINOS^. 



Those of G. grandis L. f, (C. brasiUana Lamarck), a tree of Central 

 America and Brazil, are of much larger size, showing when broken 

 transversely an elliptic outline, whose longer diameter exceeds an inch. 

 The valves have very prominent sutures and transverse branching veins. 

 The pulp is bitter and astringent. 



The legumes of Cassia moschata H B K.,^ a tree 30 to 40 feet high, 

 growing in New Granada and known there as Canafistola de purgar, 

 bear a close resemblance to those of Cassia Fistula L., except that they 

 are a little smaller and rather less regularly straight. They contain a 

 sweetish astringent pulp of a bright brown hue. When crushed and 

 exposed to the heat of a water-bath, they emit a pleasant odour like 

 sandal- wood. The pulp is coloured dark blackish green by perchloride 

 of iron. 



TAMARINDI PULPA. 



Tamarindus, Fructus Tamarindi ; Tamarinds; ¥. Tamarins ; 

 G. Tamarinden. 



Botanical Origin — Tamarindus indica L. — The tamarind is a 



large handsome tree, ffrowiofj to a height of 60 to 80 feet, and havingr 

 abruptly pinnate leaves of 10 to 20 pairs of small oblong leaflets, con- 

 stituting an abundant and umbrageous foliage. Its purplish flower buds 

 and fragrant, red-veined, white blossoms, ultimately assuming a yellow- 

 ish tinge, contribute to its beautiful aspect and cause it to be generally 

 cultivated in tropical countries. 



T. indica appears to be truly indigenous to Tropical Africa between 

 12° N. and 18" S. lat. It grows not only in the Upper Nile regions 

 (Sennaar, Kordofan, Abyssinia), but also in some of the remotest dis- 

 tricts visited by Speke, Grant, Kirk, and Stanley, and as far south 

 as the Zambesi. According to F. von Miiller,^ it occurs in Tropical 

 Australia. 



It is found throughout India, and as it has Sanskrit names it may 

 even be really wild in at least the southern parts of the peninsula. It 

 grows in the Indian islands, and Crawfurd^ has adduced reasons to show 

 that it is probably a true native of Java. The mediaeval Arabian 

 authors describe it as growing in Yemen, India, and Nigritia. 



The tamarind has been naturalized in Brazil, Ecuador and Mexico. 

 Hernandez,* who resided in the latter country from 1571 to 1575, speaks 

 of it as " nuper . . . ad eas oras translata." It abounds in the West 

 Indies where it was also introduced together with ginger by the 

 Spaniards at an early period. The tree found in these islands bears 

 shorter and fewer-seeded pods than that of India, and hence was for- 

 merly regarded as a distinct species, Tamanndus occidentalis Gartn. 



History — The tamarind was unknown to the ancient Greeks 

 and Romans; nor have we any evidence that the Egyptians were 



^ Hanbury in Linn. Trans, xxiv. 161. Vig^tatlon de VAnstraUe, ^lelh., 1866. 8. 

 p. 26; Pharm. Journ. v. (1864) 348; ^ Diet, of Indian Islands, IS56. 425. 



Science Papers, p. 318. * J^ova plantarvni, animalium. et mine- 



- Exposition intercoloniale, ^i\^o^es «»• Za ralinm historia, Eomae, 1651. 83, 



