120 



NATURAL HISTORY OF PLANTS. 



equal, with short filaments bearing anthers that dehisce by two 

 short clefts near the apex. The pod is flattened and bivalve ; and the 

 seeds, which are often oblique, are compressed parallel with the 

 valves. 



Cassia [Senna) acutifolia. 



Cassia (Senna) angustifolia. 



Cassia (Senna) 

 ovalifolia. 





Fig. 98. 

 Leaflet. 



Fig. 99. 



Leaflet. 



Fie. loo. 



Fruit. 



Fig. 101. 

 Leaflet. 



Fig. 102. 

 Fruit. 



In Psilorhegmc? the ten stamens are also fertile, and like those of 

 Absus, and the pod is compressed and bivalve ; but the seeds are 

 transverse. 



Chamacristdr has nearly the flowers of Psilorhegma ; but the sepals 

 /aper at the apex instead of being obtuse, and the flowers are 

 axillary or lateral, solitary or few together. The compressed pod 

 usually tapers towards either end, and dehisces in two valves. 



Thus constituted, the genus Cassia comprises, it is said, upwards 

 of four hundred species ; but this number should, as we have seen, 

 be reduced to less than half. They are shrubs, or more rarely trees 

 or herbs, natives of all warm countries, especially tropical America. 

 Their alternate leaves are paripinnate, or else have no blade, while the 

 petiole expands into a phyllode. The stipules are very variable in 



1 Vog., loc. cit.—B. H., Gen,, 573, 3.— 

 Macleaya Monteouz., Ft. Ins. Art., in Mem. 

 Ac. Lyon, x. 199. All the species of this section 

 are Asiatic or Australian (Reichb., Icon. Exot., 

 t. 206;— Coll., Sort. BipuL, t. 10, 11;— 

 Gaudich., in Freycin. Voy. Bot., t. Ill; — 

 Bot. Mag., t. 2676 ;— Bot. Beg., t. 1322), 

 except C. Apocouita Atjbl. (6-uian., 379, t. 

 146; — C. Acuminata W. ; — C. nitida Rich.; — 

 C. ramiflora Vog.), which is a native of tropical 

 America. 



2 DC, op. cit., 500, sect. \iii.— E. Met., 

 Comm. PI. Afric. Austr., 15S. — Jacq., Hurt. 

 Schoenbr., t. 480.— K., Mimos,, t. 36, 37. — 

 Collad., op. cit., t. 9, 16-20. — QrimdUMa 

 S ( ■hkanck, in Munch. Denies. (1808), 103 

 (part.). — In this section the sepals are almost 

 constantly acute or acuminate — a character of 

 but little importance, but convenient for sys- 

 tematic purposes, as it is very rare in the other 

 sections, whose sepals are generally rounded at 

 tho apex. 



