Pavkia] 



XLV. LEGUMIXOS.E 



203 



originally American, is a large unarmed shrub or low tree ; pinnse 4-8 pair : leaflets 

 10-15 pair, h in. long. Fl. white, in dense globose heads, bisexual, mixed with slender 

 bracteoles, broader at the top. Peduncle thirk, woody in fruit, bearing numerous pods, 

 which are fiat, stipitate. early dehiscent, linear. 5-7 in. long: seeds numerous, shining, 

 lenticular, made into ornaments. 



8. MIMOSA, Linn.; Fl. Brit. Ind. ii. 291. 



Herbs or shrubs, rarely trees : 1. in many species sensitive. Pinnae stipellate. 

 Fl. in dense globose heads. Petals 4 or 5, rarely 3 or 6. Stamens generally 

 twice the number of petals and more than twice their length. Pod linear or 

 oblong, the valves separating i entire or in transverse joints) from the persis- 

 tent sutures. Species 300, mostly American, a few in Asia and Africa. 



1. M. rubicaulis, Lam. — Svu M. octandra, Roxb. C>r. PI. t. 200. Tern. 

 Hajero, Siud : Agla, EH, Aila, Al Rul, Hind. : Vundra, Tel. 

 A straggling prickly shrub, 



pubescent, branches, petioles and 

 peduncles armed with short 

 curved sharp prickles ; stem at- 

 taining 5 in. diam. Pinnse 3-12 

 pair, the lowest often not exactly 

 opposite ; leaflets 6-15 pair, 

 obliquely oblong, the midrib 

 lateral. Fl. tetramerous, pink, 

 in fasciculate pedunculate heads. 

 Pod stipitate. glabrous, curved, 

 3-4 in. long, separating in square 

 joints from the sutural frame, 

 sutures generally without 

 prickles. Seeds 6-10. 



Common in must parts of India, 

 except the arid region ; in the onter 

 Himalaya ascending to 4,000 ft. 

 Fl. E. S. Wood used for gunpowder 

 charcoal. 2. M. hamata, Willd.; 

 Surat, Deccan and east side of the 

 Western Peninsula ; pinnse S-4 pair; 

 leaflets 6-10 pair, midrib near the 

 middle of leaflet. Sutures armed 

 with numerous hooked prickles. 



S] imeus i if this, friini Bombay, 



have been identified with .1/. poly- 

 oncistra, Benth., an American species, ii. m. pudica, I. inn., the Sensitive Plant, 

 naturalized, introduced from America, clothed with 1<>ul' bristlj hairs; pinnea 8-4, 

 digitate; pod J. in. long, with abundant straw-coloured prickles. Seeds 8-4. 



PlO. 111. — Mimosa rubicaulis. Lain. 



9. ACACIA, Will. 



■1. Brit. Ind. ii. 292. 



(The following characters relate only to the Indian species.) 



Trees, shrubs and climbers, armed with stipular, infra-stipular or scattered 

 spines. L. bipinnate, pinnse and leaflets opposite. Fl. yellow or white, in 

 globose heads or cylindrical spikes; numerous scaly bracteoles between the 

 Glowers. Calyx and corolla I 5-meTOUS. Stamens free, generally very numerous. 



Pod dehiscent or indehiscent. Species 150, tropical and subtropical regions of 



b it h hemispheres, chiefly Australia. 



A. Trees or shrubs: stipules spinescent : fl, in globose heads. 



1. A. Farnesiana, Will.!.: l'.edd. PI. Sylv. t. 52. Syn. VacheUia Far- 

 nesiana, W. el A.: Wight [c, t. 300. Vern. Waldyti Kikar, Hind. 



