26 



NATURAL HISTORY OF PLANTS. 



Entada polystachya. 



seeds suspended on fleshy ftmicles. X. dolabriformis, 1 the only species 

 of this genus, is a lofty unarmed tree, from tropical Asia. Its leaves 

 are bipinnate, with a few broad leaflets possessing petiolary glands. 



Entada? too, possesses the flowers of Adenanthera, Elephantorrhiza, 

 &c. The receptacle forms a shallow cup lined by a glandular disk, 

 external to which are inserted the stamens. The petals are free, 

 but their edges often stick together for some way up from the base. 



The gyna3ceum is sessile or nearly so. Hence, 

 to find characters peculiar to the genus we must 

 turn our attention elsewhere. In the fruit alone will 

 such be found. It forms a flattened pod, straight or 

 curved edgewise, as the pericarp is thin or thick and 

 woody. At maturity the marginal sutures persist 

 (fig. 20), while the valves separate into as many 

 joints as there are seeds. The lines of demarcation 

 are transverse and very sharp ; and at each line the 

 two walls of the endocarp touch, the pericarp forming 

 as many rectangular segments, usually transversely 

 elongated and persisting around the seeds, which 

 they envelope completely. Each seed contains 

 within its coriaceous coats a large exalbuminous 

 embryo.. Entada consists of ten or twelve species 3 of 

 tropical plants, of which one-third belong to Africa 

 and another to America; while one species, E. 

 scandens, Benth.,' 1 is naturalized on the coasts of all 

 warm countries. The genus consists of shrubs, 

 often climbing and holding on by tendrils repre- 

 senting the terminal leaflets of their bipinnate leaves ; these are not 

 glandular, and possess two lateral stipules. The flowers, herma- 

 phrodite or pol}'gamous, form slender spikes, terminal or axillary, 

 solitary or geminate, or even collected at the ends of the branches 



Fig. 20. 

 Fruit, 



1 Benth., loc. cit. — Walp., Rep., v. 587. — 

 Mimosa dolabriformis Roxb., PL Coromand., 

 i. t. 100. 



2 Adans., Fam. des PL, ii. 318.— DC, 

 Mem. Legvm., 419, t. 61, 62 ; Prodr., ii. 424.— 

 Endl., Gen., n. 6832.— B. 11., Gen., 589, n. 

 374. — Gigalobiwm P. Be., Jamaic., 362. — 

 Parsailia L., FL ZcyL, 644. — Adenopodia 

 Pkesl., Epimel., 206. 



3 J acq., Amer., t. 183, fig. 93. — Wight 

 & Aen., Prodr., i. 267. — Miq., Fl. Lid.- Bat., 



i. 75. — Rich., Guill. & Peek., Fl. Seneg. 

 Tent., i. 233. — H. Bn., in Adansonia, vi. 

 208.— Hakv. & SOOTX, Fl. Cap., ii. 276.— 

 Walp., Bep., i. 85S ; v. 578 ; Ann., ii. 450 ; 

 iv. 616. 



4 E. Gigalobhtm DC, Mem. Legvm., 12 ; 

 Prodr., ii. ]. — E. Pursatha DC, loc. cit., 

 n. 2. — E. monostachya DC, loc. cit., n. 3. 

 — Mimosa scandens Sw., Obs., 389. — RoXB., 

 Cat., 40. — M. Entada W., Spec. iv. 1041.— 

 Entada Rheed, llorl. Malab., i.\. t. 77. 



