Parl-insonia. LEGOIIX08-E. \§\ 



inches in diameter : petals 4 lines long, rose-colored : pod about 2 inches long, 8 

 lines broad, acute at each end, on pedicels about half an inch long. — Gray, PL 

 Lindh. 177; Torrey, Bot. Wilkes Exp. 283, t. 3. C. SMiquastrum, var., Leutli. PL 

 Hartw. 307. 0. CcUifvrnica, Torr. in Benth. 1. c. 361. 



From Jit. Shasta and Mendocino Co. southward to San Diego Co. ; Cuianiaea Mountains, 

 r. Also in Northern Mexico (Gregg) and Texas. The common species of the Atlantic 

 States, 0. oceidenialis, differs in its larger pointed leaves and narrower and longer pods. The 

 Texan fomi of the present species (C. reniformis, Eugelin. MSS.) differs in having its leaves some- 

 what produced above, though still obtuse, and somewhat pubescent beneath at least when young ; 

 the pedicels also are often shorter. The plate in 13ot. Wilkes Exp. is faulty in representing the 

 western fonn as with shortly acute leaves. 



18. CASSIA, Linn. Senx.v. 



Calyx-tube very short ; the divisions 5, imbricated. Petals 5, spreading, nearly 



equal or the lower one larger; the upper one within. Stamens 5 to 10 (in outs 7) ; 



anthers erect, attached by the base, opening by two pores or chinks at the apex. 



Pod usually curved, many-seeded, often with cross-partitions between the seeds, 



indehiscent or 2-valved, terete or flattened, thick-coriaceous to membranaceous. 



Seeds albuminous, transverse or sometimes longitudinal. — Herbs (foreign species 



often shrubs or trees); leaves abruptly pinnate; flowers mostly yellow, usually in 



terminal or axillary racemes or clusters. 



A genus of over 300 species, abounding in the tropical and wanner regions of America, and 

 frequent in Africa and tropical Asia. The 18 or 20 species found in the United States belong 

 mostly to the Southern States and especially near the borders of Mexico. 



1. C. armata, Watson. Herbaceous, 3 feet high, minutely puberulent, light 

 green : leaflets 2 or 3 pairs, thick, rounded ovate, the margin revolute, acutish, 1 or 

 2 lines iu diameter, distant upon an elongated rigid flattened spinulose rhachis 

 (2 inches long); stipules and glands wanting : flowers in a short terminal raceme, 

 yellow: pedicels slender, with rigid aculeate-tipped bracts: petals 2 or 3 lines long : 

 ovary slightly pubescent; the numerous ovules obliquely transverse: young pod 

 stipitate, giabrate, linear, acuminate, compressed, the sutures thick and nerve-like. 

 — Proc. Am. Acad. xi. L36. 



Mountains between Fort Mohave and Cajon Pass (Cooper) ; also in Western Arizona, Lieut. 

 Whteler. A remarkable species. 



2. C. Covesii, Gray. White-tomentose and silky-villous, a foot or two high. 

 branching from the base : Leaflets 2 or 3 pairs, ohovate-oblong, an inch long or less, 



obtuse, iiuiri.iii.il.-, stipules filiform, lax, caducous, 1 to •'! lines long; a gland to 

 each pair of leaflets, similar to the stipules, a line long : racemes axillary, peduncu- 

 late, exceeding the leaves, few-flowered : sepals narrow, equal: petals yellow, veined, 

 4 to <> lines long: pod pubescent, linear-oblong, acute at each end, sessile, nearly 



fit, s what compressed, 2-valved, many-seeded, an inch long, exceeding the 



pedicel: s Is transverse. — Proc. Am. Acad. vii. 399; Watson in Wheeler's I 'at. 8. 



Uig Canon of the Tantillas Mts., below San Diego (Palmer) ; W. Arizona, Palmer, Wh» ' 



19. PARKINSONIA, Linn. 



Calyx 5-parted, produced at base and jointed u] the pedicel : divisions valvate 



or narrowly imbricate. Petals 5, with claws; the upper one within and broader 

 than the rest, somewhal cordate, the claw pubescent and uectariferous on the inner 

 side, stamens lo, free ; filaments pilose al base, the upper one gibbous on the 

 outside; anthei finally dehiscent. Ovary Bei ed, shortly 



stipitate; style filiform, acute. Pod compressed, 2-valved, linear to linear-oblong, 



