ON SELECT INDIAN PLANTS. 317 



the fresh plant, I guessed, from the name in V ant 

 Rheede and from the thin roots, that it was the Asi- 

 atic Ac or us ; but a drawing of Dr. Roxburgh's has 

 convinced me that I was mistaken. 

 69. Sam 1. 



Syn. Saciu-tfhald > S'ha. 

 Vulg. Sam BabuL 

 Linn. Farnesian Mimosa* 



Thorns double, white, black pointed, stipular. 

 Leaves twice feathered ; first, in three or four 

 pairs, then in pairs from fourteen to sixteen. 

 Spikes globular, with short peduncles; yellow^ 

 perfuming the woods and roads with a rich aroma- 

 tic odour. A minute gland on the petiols below 

 the leaflets, . Wood extremely hard, ufed by the 

 Brdhmens to kindle their sacred fire, by rubbing two 

 pieces of it together, when it is of a proper 

 age and sufficiently dried. Gum semi-peilucid. 

 Legumes rather spindle-shaped, but irregular, 

 curved, acutely pointed, or daggered, with 

 twelve or fourteen seeds rather prominent, gum- 

 my within. Seeds roundish, compressed. The 

 gum of this valuable plant is more transparent 

 than that of the Nilotic or Arabian species ; which 

 the Arabs call Ummiclghi'Ian, or Mother of Ser- 

 pents ; and the Persians, by an easy corruption, 

 Mughilan. 

 Sami'ra means a small Sam}; but 1 cannot learn to 



what species that dimunitive form is applied. 

 Lajja'ru (properly Lajjalu) signifies bashful, or 

 sensitive, and appears to be cht word engrav 



on 



