JLntada?[ LegUminOSCB. I 1 9 



Shallow pools and stagnant water in the dry region ; rather common. 

 Fl. all the year; yellow. 



Found throughout the Tropics. 



The plant is completely aquatic; its stems float by means of white 

 spongy masses developed on the outside of the cortex. 



N. plena. Benth., a Tropical American species, is said in Fl. B. Ind. to 

 be introduced to Ceylon. There are specimens in Hb. Kew labelled 

 ' Ceylon, Walker n. 141 7.' 



59. ENTABA, Adans. 



A very large woody climber, 1. bipinnate, ending in a 

 tendril, fl. very small, polygamous (male and bisexual) in long 

 narrow spikes ; cal. campanulate with minute teeth ; pet. 5, 

 equal, valvate, slightly connate at base, stam. io, free, twice 

 as long as pet, anth. with globular gland on top ; pod very 

 large, woody, composed of indehiscent joints ; seeds very 

 large, flat. — Sp. 10; 1 in Fl. B. Ind. 



E. scandens, Benth. in Hook. Journ. Bot. iv. 332 (1842). Fus- 

 wel, S. 



Herm. Mus. 44. Burm. Thes. 139. Fl. Zeyl. n. 219. Mimosa 

 Entada, L. Sp. PL 518. Acacia scandens, W., Moon Cat. 7 3, Thw. Enum. 

 98. C. P. 2661. 



Fl. B. Ind. ii. 287. Rheede, Hort. Mai. ix. t. 77, and viii. tt. 32-4. 



An immense woody climber, with a thick trunk and long 

 twisted snakelike branches ; 1. large, main rachis 6-10 in., 

 stiff and semi-woody ending in a bifid spiral tendril by which 

 the plant climbs, pinnse 2 or 3 pair with stiff glabrous rachis 



3 or 4 in. long and much thickened at base, lflts. 6 or 8 (3 or 



4 pair), 1 1—2 in., obovate-oblong, acute at base, rounded, often 

 emarginate at apex, glabrous, paler beneath, with the lat. 

 veins conspicuous ; fl. sessile, crowded in long, narrow, pe- 

 dunculate axillary spikes 6-ioin. long; pod i£-2 ft. long, by 

 2\ 3 in. wide, curved, often twisted, compressed, woody, in- 

 dented on both sutures between the seeds, joints 6-12, turgid, 

 1 -seeded, indehiscent, glabrous, brown ; seed very large, 

 i:, ! -2 ; n., circular, compressed, smooth and shining, brown, 

 testa thick and woody. 



Low country up to 2000 ft.; common. Fl. Feb.-April ; greenish- 

 white. 



Throughout the Tropics. 



The joints composing the immense pod break away from one another, 

 and also from the thickened sutures which remain as an empty frame. 



The juice of the wood and bark is used as an external application to 

 rsj also, I am told, to poison fish. 



