228 A FLORA OP MANILA 



In thickets, common, fl. all the year; very widely distributed in the 

 Philippines, thoroughly naturalized; A native of tropical America, now 

 found all over the tropics. 



. 6. MITVIOSA Linnaeus 



Herbaceous prickly plants with bipinnate, sensitive leaves, the leaflets 

 small. Flowers small, in dense, globose heads, polygamous, mostly 4-merous. 

 Calyx campanulate, short-toothed. Petals connate below. Stamens as 

 many as, or twice the number of, the petals, much exserted; anthers not 

 gland-crested. Ovary stalked. Pod flat, membranaceous, made up of 1- 

 seeded joints that on 'maturity, separate from the sutures. {From the 

 Greek "mimic," the sensitite leaves mimicing living animals.) 



A very large genus mostly confined to tropical America, a sin^e intro- 

 duced one in the Philippines. 



1. M. PUDICA L. Macahia (Tag.) ; Sensitive Plant. 



A diffusely spreading, suffrutescent herb, the stems branched, up to 1 

 m in lengrth, sparingly prickly and with numerous deflexed bristly haira. 

 Leaves very sensitive, both the pinnae and the leaflets falling when touched; 

 pinnae usually 4, digitately arranged at the end of each petiole, 4 to 9 cm 

 long; leaflets narrowly oblong, inequilateral, acute, 1 to l.S cm long, sessile, 

 sparingly bristly. Heads long-peduncled, solitary or 2 or S in -each axil, 

 nearly 1 cm in diameter. Flowers pink, very numerous. Stamens 4. Pods 

 flat, slightly recurved, numerous, 1 to 2 cm long, made up of from 3 to 5, 

 1-seeded joints that at maturity fall away from the persistent, armed, 

 sutures which bear numerous, weak, spreading, yellowish-white bristles. 

 (Fl. Filip. pi. ess.) 



, In open waste places, very common, fl. all the year; throughout the Phil- 

 ippines. A native of tropical America, now found in all tropical countries. 



7. PR080PIS Linnaeus 



Erect shrubs or trees with stout spines. Leaves 2-pinnate, the leaflets 

 numerous, small. Flowers polygamous, small, in spikes or spike-like race- 

 mes. Calyx small, campanulate, entire or slightly 5-toothed. Petals 6, 

 ligulate, somewhat coherent at the base. Stamens 10, free, somewhat ex- 

 serted; anthers crowned with a gland. Ovary njany-ovuled. Pod turgid, 

 narrowly oblong, somewhat curved, the mesocarp fleshy, septate between the 

 seeds. (An ancient Greek plant name of uncertain application.) 



Species 25 or more in most tropical countries, 1 introduced in the Philip- 

 pines. 



1. P. VIDALIANA Naves. Aroma (Sp.-Fil.). 



A shrub or a small tree 2 to 6 m high, glabrous throughout, the branches 

 armed with numerous, long, sharp spines. Leaves bipinnate, solitary or 

 somewhat fascicled, each leaf or fascicle subtended by a pair of 1.5 to 4 cm 

 long spines, mostly with 2 pairs of 5 to 10 cm long pinnae.' Leaflets nu- 

 merous, linear-oblong, about 1.5 cm long, obtuse. Spikes axillary, 8 to 10 

 cm long. Flowers numerous, yellowish or straw-colored, spreading, in- 

 cluding the stamens about 7 mm long. Pods 15 to 20 cm long, nearly 1 

 cm. wide, somewhat compressed, rather strongly curved, containing about 

 20 seeds. (Fl. Filip. pi. S92.) 



Abundant along the Pasay beach, and along and near some tidal streams, 

 fl. Sept.-March; very abundant about Manila Bay, and in a faw^her local- 

 ities in the Philippines, undoubtedly introduced from Mexico. 



