Baufo'nta.] Leguminosce. 115 



56. HUMBOLDTIA,* Vahl. 



Small tree, 1. abruptly pinnate with very large double stip., 

 fl. in erect axillary racemes ; cal. with short tube and 5 

 petaloid segm.; pet. 5, clawed ; stam. normally 5, often 3 or 4, 

 inserted at mouth of cal.-tube and alternating with 5 small 

 staminodes, anth. versatile ; ov. shortly stalked, style very 

 long ; pod flat, dehiscent ; seed without endosperm. — Sp. 5 ; 

 4 in Fl. B. Ind. 



H. laurifolia, Vahl, Symb.Bot. iii. 106 (1797). G-al-karanda, 6". 



Moon Cat. 17. Thw. Enum. 97. C. P. 328. 



Fl. B. Ind. ii. 273. Vahl, Symb. iii. t. 56. Wight, Ic. t. 1605. 



A small tree or a shrub with numerous horizontally 

 spreading or rather drooping branches, the young ones with 

 swollen hollow internodes; 1. numerous, spreading distichously, 

 rachis 4-6 in., cylindrical, glabrous, thickened and flexible at 

 base, stip. apparently double, really peltate with two separate 

 halves, the longer erect, \\ in., ovate, obtuse, stiff, the smaller 

 spreading horizontally, broad, auricled towards petiole, very 

 acute at other end, rigid, lflts. 8 or 10 (4 or 5 pair), very 

 shortly stalked, drooping, 2-|— 3^ in., ovate, slightly unequal at 

 base, caudate-acuminate, undulate, glabrous, rather stiff; fl. 

 about f in., on short finely pubescent ped., arranged in shortly 

 stalked, rigidly erect, axillary racemes about 3-5 in. long, 

 bracts at base of ped. rounded, green, persistent, those at 

 summit oval, pink, enclosing the bud ; cal. -segm. oval, obtuse, 

 recurved, thin ; pet. clawed, spreading ; stam. erect, twice as 

 long as pet.; ov. pilose; pod 3-4 in. by \\ in. wide, scarcely 

 stalked, pointed, much compressed, glabrous, veiny. 



Damp places in forests in the moist low country; common. Fl. Feb.; 

 white, cal. pink; honey-scented. 



Also in Malabar. 



The hollow, swollen internodes of the branchlets are inhabited by 

 small ants, which gain access by a little perforation situated between the 

 stipules of the leaf above. 



The racemes are stiff and quite erect as figured by Vahl, not drooping 

 as stated in FL B. Ind. 



7. BAUHINIA, L. 



Trees or woody climbers, 1. apparently simple, usually 

 bifid at top, fl. in racemes ; cal. cither with a short tube and large 

 limb which splits down one side in a spathe-like manner or 



* Named in honour of F. A. von Humboldt, author of ' Flora Fribur- 

 gensis.' Vahl first named the plant Batschia (1. c. 39). 



