102 LegUmiflOSCe. [Cassias 



50. MEZOHEUBUK,^/ 



A prickly woody climber like Ccesalpinia in habit and fl. ;. 

 lowest cal. segm. very much enlarged and hooded in bud ; 

 stigma small, capitate; pod large, thin and papery, very flat, 

 indehiscent, with a broad papery wing along the dorsal suture ;. 

 seeds few, small. — Sp. 10; 5 in Fl. B. Ind. 



M. enneaphyllum, W. and A. Prod. 283 (1834). G-oda 

 wawuletiya, S. 



Thw. Enum. 414. C. P. 3601. 



Fl. B. Ind. ii. 258. Miq. Fl. Ind. Bat. i. 1, t. ii. f. B (flower and fruit). 



A climbing shrub, stems finely pubescent or glabrous, set 

 with scattered decurved prickles, 1. large, main rachis 7-12 in., 

 cylindrical, branch-like secondary ones 1 J— 3 in., horizontal or 

 deflexed, with pairs of hooked prickles beneath at the origin, 

 pinnae 8-12 pair, distant, lfits. 10-16 (5-8 pair) shortly stalked 

 oval or obovate-oblong, rounded or emarginate, glabrous or 

 pubescent, much paler beneath ; fl. f in., pod f in., horizontal,, 

 pubescent, in axillary or supra-axillary long-stalked racemes 

 6-12 in. long; cal. densely pubescent; fil. very hairy in lower 

 half; pod 5-7 in., by ii-ij wide, pendulous, not stalked, 

 tapering to a somewhat hooked apex, very thin, the wing 

 \ in. wide, i.e., nearly half the width of pod so as to cause the 

 dorsal suture to look like a vein running along its centre, 

 brilliant pinkish-crimson; seeds 3-5, very small. 



Moist low country up to 2000 ft.; rather common. Fl. July-Septem- 

 ber; yellow. 



Also in Burma and Malay Archipelago. 



The thin, papery, crimson pods hanging in large clusters are very con- 

 spicuous. 



It is possible that the above includes M. fiubescens, Desf., which is 

 given for Ceylon in Fl. B. Ind. ii. 259. 



Parkinsonia aculeata, L., a native of Trop. America, is a not uncommon 

 small tree in the dry districts, especially about Jaffna; usually planted,, 

 but sometimes self-sown on borders of paddy-fields, &c. 



51. CASSIA, L. 



Trees, shrubs or more rarely herbs, 1. abruptly pinnate 

 often with glands on the rachis, fl. usually large, in axillary 

 racemes or terminal panicles ; cal. cut almost to the base, 

 segm. (nearly separate sep.) much imbricate; pet. usually 

 nearly equal ; stam. 10 (very rarely 5), either all perfect 

 or more usually with the 3 upper barren, anth. opening by 



