1036 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XVII. 



ither Native or European, that I have met seems to have heard of bears with 

 uch coloured marks, so I shall be glad if you will let me know if this colour- 

 fng is very unusual or merely a little out of the ordinary. 



W. W. BAKER, Lt.-Col., r.e. 



Indore, C. I., 2nd March 1907. 



[Blanford says " a narrow white horseshoe-shaped mark on the chest." 

 Mr. J. D. Inverarity says " The usual colour is a yellowish -white and it is 

 remarkable that the cub mentioned above should be like the mother." 

 —Eds.] 



No. XXX— CASSIA RENIGERA, WALL. 



( With an illustration^) 



The genus Cassia is one of the largest in the whole vegetable kingdom 

 comprising about 400 species, and its geographical distribution is a very 

 wide one too, its representatives inhabiting all tropical and warm regions, except 

 Europe. In India alone we find about 20 species, of which 16 occur in the 

 Bombay Presidency. Many Cassias, owing to their ornamental appearance, 

 have been introduced into European gardens, v.g., Cassia corymbosa and 

 Cassia fiorida , which are both well-known greenhouse shrubs in England ; and 

 even our tropical gardens have been greatly embellished by the cultivation of 

 exotic species. I mention only Cassia marginata with its beautiful flowers, 

 which was introduced from Ceylon into the Botanic Garden in Calcutta in 

 1802, and since then into many a public and private garden of India. It bears 

 during the rainy season axillary racemes of flowers ^ inch in width, pink in 

 colour with almost a tinge of terracotta, and marked with greenish veins. 

 Another species, viz., Cassia grandis, a native of Tropical and Central America 

 and the West Indies, has been introduced into gardens at Poona and Bombay. 

 Cassia tomentosa, indigeneous in Tropical America, is frequently planted in 

 gardens on account of the bright yellow flowers which form large corymbose 

 panicles. One Cassia, however, seems to match all the abovementioned species 

 with regard to ornamental beauty, vis., Cassia renigera, of which Mr. W. 

 Harvey Jones has obtained an excellent photograph which is reproduced here. 

 The tree referred to. which is about 20 feet high, is in the garden of Mr. W. S. 

 Millard on Malabar Fill, to whom it was sent from Rangoon by the Hon'ble 

 R. A. Forbes-Sempill. Mr. Millard says that it is the most beautiful Cussia he 

 has ever seen, and even superior to Cassia marginata and Cassia grandis. 



The leaves are abrnbtly pinnate, g — 1 foot long and softly pubescent all over ; 

 the lunate-reniform stipules are very large ; and the membraneous leaflets 

 are 8-20 pairs in number. The flowers are large and showy, of a rich pink 

 colour, and form very short racemes above the scars of the fallen leaves. The 

 yellow stamens, which project far beyond the petals, form a prominent feature 

 of the flower. 



