160 



NATURAL HISTORY OF PLANTS. 



There are but few edible seeds and fruits in Legvminosce. The 

 pericarp is rarely fleshy. That, however, of Detarium sencgalensc, 1 

 " about as big as an apricot, has a greenish floury flesh, traversed by 

 numerous fibres spreading from an orbicular stone resembling that 

 of the peach. It is extensively consumed by both negro and monkey, 

 and is brought in considerable quantities to the markets of Goree, 

 and even of St. Louis." 2 The Dialiums of the same country have also 

 edible pericarps, especially I), mtidmn, which has " subcompressed 

 rounded fruits, black and velvet}" within, full of a moistish floury 

 pulp, of a very agreeable subacid taste, and much prized by negroes, 

 monkeys, and other animals." 3 In the Courbarils (Ifgmenaa), too, 

 it is the pulp produced inside the pericarp that is the edible portion 

 of the fruit. Formed, as we have seen, of hairs gorged with starchy 

 and resinous matters, it finally dries up and is so usually eaten. The 

 pericarp itself is impregnated with astringent resinous matters. 

 Astringency is strongly developed, too, in the pericarp of the 

 Ccesaljrinias* especially in those hence used for tanning. The chief 

 are the Divi-divi or Libidibi pods, 5 the fruits of C. coriaria, and the 

 Algarobillas or Algarovillos of South America, the fruits of C. gla- 

 brafa 6 (?). The pods of C. crista, corymbosa Benth., Cacaiaco, 7 &c, 

 are also rich in tannin. Those of C. brevifolia 8 are also exported 

 from Chili under the name of Algarrobilos, the pericarp being rich in 

 resin and tannin. In the Carobs and Tamarinds it is the mesocarp 

 which becomes thick and fleshy ; but the chief principles in its paren- 

 chyma are sweet or acid. Thus the Carobs, or Karouba, contain a 

 firm, soft, sweet, nutritious flesh, eaten in the Mediterranean and 

 used as fodder in Spain under the name of Algarobo and in England 

 under that of Locust-beans. 9 In the fruits of Tamarindus indica 10 the 

 parenchyma of the mesocarp, when freed from the fibro-vascular 



1 Gmel., Sifst., iii. 700.— DC, Prodi:, ii. 521. 

 — B.OOK.,Mger, 329. — H. Bn., in Adansonia, vi. 

 200 (Niey-datach of the negroes). 



2 Gitill. & Peee., Fl. Sen. Tent., i. 270. 



3 Guill. & Pere., loc. cit., 268. 



4 W., Spec., ii. 532.— DC, Prodr., ii. 483, n. 

 16. — K., Mimos., t. 45. — C. ThomtEaSvaxsG. — 

 Poinciana coriaria Jacq., Amer., 123, t. 175, 

 fig. 36. 



5 Nacascol, Ouatta-pana, Muata-pana (Guib., 

 JDrog. Simpl., ed. 4, ii. 368, fig. 360; — Rosenth., 

 op. cit., 1034). 



6 H. B. K., Nov. Gen. et Spec, vi. 326. — 

 DC, Prodr., n. 13. — These are perhaps the 



fruits represented by Guilourt (loc. cit., fig. 361). 

 ' H. B., PLMqwrn., ii. 1. 137.— DC, Prodr., 

 n. 1 1. 



8 Bahamocarpon breiifolium Cl., apud C. 

 Gat, Fl. Chil., ii. 228, t. 20. 



9 From it is prepared a tonic wine and a 

 syrup used in Egypt for preserving tamarinds, 

 myrobalans, &c. (Ginn., op. cit., ii. 349, fig. 8 '7. 

 — M£b. & Del., Diet., ii. 180; — A. Rim., 

 F.i '• 'm., t'd. 4, ii. 225 ; — Rosenth., op. cit., 1046). 

 The fruits were the siliqum dulcts of the old 

 physicians. 



10 See page 100, n. 1, figs. 73-76.— The wood is 

 good for building, cart-making, &c. It is the 



