166 GAESALPINIACEAE. 



Pods not jointed. 



Pods terete or turgid. 

 Pods turgid, straight. 



Suture indistinct ; seeds in a single row. 

 Suture indistinct ; seeds in a double row. 

 Pods not turgid, strongly curved, narrow. 

 Pods flat, or the valves lightly convex ; suture distinct. 

 Petiolar gland situated near the leaf base. 

 Gland wart-like. 

 Gland elongated, pointed. 

 Petiolar gland at the first pair of leaflets. 

 Gland wart-like. 

 Gland elongated. 

 Pods jointed. 



Joints continuous. 

 Joints moniliform. 



1. Cassia Sophera L. Sp. 379. 1753. 



A shrub, 1-2.3 m. high, nearly glabrous throughout, with slender branches. 

 Leaves 1-1.5 dm. long; petiole 1-3 cm. long, bearing a sessile round gland near 

 the base; leaflets 5-10 pairs, ciliate, at least when young, membranous, lanceo- 

 late to oblong-lanceolate, acute or acuminate at the apex, mostly rounded at 

 the base; flowers in short racemes in the upper axils; pedicels 8-15 mm. long; 

 calyx about 8 mm. long; petals about twice as long as the sepals; pod linear, 

 straight, turgid or subterete, 5-10 cm. long, 7-9 mm. thick, pointed, glabrous; 

 seeds dull, brown, 4^5 mm. long. 



Waste grounds. New Providence, near Nassau, Eleuthera, Cat Island : — West 

 Indies ; continental tropical America ; Old World tropics. Kasokdi Senna. 



2. Cassia bicapsularis L. Sp. PI. 376. 1753. 



A shrub, up to 3.5 m. high, glabrous, or nearly so, throughout, the branches 

 slender, sometimes vine-like. Stipules Bmall, early deciduous; leaves 5-9 cm. 

 long, slightly fleshy, bearing an oblong gland narrowed toward the base, between 

 the lowest pair of leaflets; leaflets 3-5 pairs, 1-4 cm. long, short-stalked, 

 rounded at the apex, the upper pair obovate, narrowed at the base, the others 

 oblong to suborbicular, rounded at both ends; racemes axillary, few-flowered, 

 as long as the leaves or longer; pedicels 3-8 mm. long; sepals oblong, obtuse, 

 faintly veined, 8-12 mm. long; petals yellow, veiny, oblong-obovate, somewhat 

 longer than the sepals; pod turgid, subterete, 8-15 cm. long, about 1 cm. thick, 

 longitudinally dehiscent; seeds lenticular, obliquely oval, brown, shining, about 

 5 mm. long, horizontal. 



Scrub-lands and loose rocky soil, North Caicos, Grand Turk Island : — Ber- 

 muda (naturalized) ; Cuba to Tortola and Grenada ; Jamaica ; continental trop- 

 ical America. Cheistmas-bush. Wilh Eaisin. 



3. Cassia Tora L. Sp. PI. 376. 1753. 



Cassia obtusifolia L. Sp. PI. 377. 1753. 



Annual, glabrous, 4-6 dm. high. Stipules linear-subulate, deciduous ; leaves 

 petioled, the gland borne between or above the lowest pair of leaflets; leaflets 

 2-4 pairs, thin, obovate, obtuse and mucronate at the apex, 2-4 cm. long; 

 flowers 1-2.5 cm. broad, few, in short axillary racemes ; calyx-lobes oblong, 

 obtuse; stamens 10, the anthers of the upper 3 imperfect; pod linear, very 

 slender, subterete, strongly curved, 1-1.5 dm. long, about 3 mm. wide. 



Waste grounds. New Providence, Eleuthera : — Central and southern United 

 States; throughout tropical and subtropical America; Old World tropics. Low 

 Senna. 



4. Cassia occidenUlis L. Sp. PI. 377. 1753. 



Annual, glabrous, much branched, 1.4-2 m. high. Stipules caducous; gland 

 borne near the base of the petiole; leaflets 8-12, rounded at the base, 2-5 cm. 



