17 



many-flowered. Stamem monadelphoiis. Legume mucli like tluit 

 of the preceding species, few-seeded ; seeds with a fleshy yellow 

 arillus. 



Grows from 20 to 30 feet high, and from 3 to 4 in diameter. Bark 

 brownish-grey, smooth. Wood white, hard, tough, and heavy, bnt does 

 not appear to be much used save for triggers, posts, enclosures, &c. 

 The young beam are eaten by Hottentots and Kafirs. 



Very common in the forests of Uitenhage, Albany, British Caffraria, 

 etc. Fl. January. 



47. Acacia Horrida. Willd. (Thorn'tree; Doornhoom.) — 

 Stem and branches smooth, but armed with straight, large white, 

 spiny stipules; twigs anrrular. Lea^^es 2 pinnate; jiinnce 2-5 

 yoked; /e<2^e^5 linear-oblong, blunt, smooth, many-yoked; leaf- 

 stalks glandular at base and apex Flowers stalked, bracteate 

 in the middle, axillary, globose, polygamous, yellow, sweet-scented. 

 Legume long, narrow, compressed, sickle-shaped, leathery, smooth, 

 many-seeded. 



Height 20 to 25 ; diameter 1 to 1 ^ feet. Bark dark grey, contains a 

 large portion of the tanning principle, imparting a reddish dye to 

 leather. Wood hard and tough, extensively employed in the interior 

 for building purposes ; looks well when varnished, and therefore adapted 

 for all kinds of common furniture. The colonists generally place the 

 logs for some time in water before using them, in order to render the 

 wood more durable. It furnishes a \qyj good material for wheels, 

 poles, and yokes, and many rural implements, and answers Avell for 

 turner's work. 



The Gummi Acacioe, which exudes spontaneously from the bark both 

 of the trunk and branches, is well known as an article of commerce. 

 . The Thorn-tree may be said to be the most common tree met with in 

 the lonely wastes of South Africa. There it inhabits the borders of 

 every stream, and points out at a far distance to the exhausted traveller 

 the cherished spot, where he may quench his burning thirst, and screen 

 himself from the scorching rays of an African sun. Fl. January — 

 February. 



SAXIFRAGACE^. D.C. 



48. Cunonia Capensis. Lin. {Red Alder. Rood Els.) — 

 Branches rough, patent. Leaves stalked, irnpari-pinnate ; leaflets 

 4-5 yoked, petiolate, opposite, oblong, acute, sawed, leathery, 

 penninerved, smooth. Stipules large, ovate, deciduous ; petioles 

 compressed. Floivers small, white, racemose, axillary. Calyx 5 

 parted ; _/;e^a/s 5 ; stamens \0; styles 2, \onger than the corolla. 

 Capsule taperpointed, 2-celled, many seeded. 



Height 15 to 25 feet ; breadth U to 2. Bark black, wrinkled. Wood 

 tough, close, somewhat like the Lime-tree, and much in request. It is 

 handsome Avhen polislied, and the yilanks are s«jught after, both by 



