LEGUMINOSAE 



529 



*'ig. 288. Acacia (Acacia arabica). Flowering and 

 fruiting branch. The source of gum arabic. (After 

 Faguet.) 



sia like the partridge pea (C. Chamaecrista), produce scours in sheep because of 

 their purgative properties. The purging cassia (C. Fistula') is a tree indigenous 

 to India. The pulp of the pod is a mild laxative. Clitoria ternaica of the Pacific 

 Islands is a powerful cathartic. Tamarind (Tamarindus indica} a large, hand- 

 some tree indigenous to tropical Africa, is now widely distributed in other 

 tropical countries. The fruit is used in medicine as a mild laxative and also 

 in making a drink. It contains citric, tartaric, and other organic acids. The 

 pulp and seeds are also eaten; the latter, when boiled, make a tenacious glue. 

 The leaves and flowers are used as mordants in dyeing. Copaiba balsam 

 (Copaifera officinalis) is a native to South Africa. The balsam is collected 

 by Indians and used because of its stimulating action on the mucous mebmrane. 

 It contains several acids, among them copaibic acid, C 20 H SO O 2 . Gum Arabic 

 is obtained from Acacia arabica, the finest product coming from several species 

 of the genus Acacia (A. Senegal}, a plant well known to ancients. It possesses 

 no real medicinal value. Catechu {Acacia Catechu}, a small tree with thorny 



