Frosopis.] XXXIi LEGUMINOSjE. 171 



the Panjab, Giizerat, and the Dekkan. The pods are collected before they are 

 quite ripe, and the mealy pulp is eaten raw, or boiled with vegetables, salt, and 

 butter. Is considered indigestible if consumed in large quantities. The tree 

 is worshipped by Hindus at the Dussera festival. 



2i P. Stephaniana, Kunth; Boissier Fl. Orient, ii. 633. — Jembut, 

 Arab. 



A small tlioriiy shrub, 2-2 J ft. high., with smooth white bark, , ex- 

 tremities and leaves hairy. Pinnse 2-5 pair ; leaflets 8-12 pair, linear. 

 Pods short, thick, 1-1|- in. long, black, rugose, with 6-7 seeds. 



Peshawar valley, and further east, sparingly as far as Amballa. Beluchistan, 

 Afghanistan, Persia, Syria, Asia Minor, Egypt, Turkestan. Never leafless; 

 small roundish excrescences common on brancnlets and leaves. 



5. DICHROSTACHTS, DC. 



Hewers sessile, pentamerous, in dense cylindrical spikes, the upper 

 flowers of each spike bisexual, the lower neuter, with long, much-exserted, 

 filiform staminodes. Teeth of calyx short. Petals valvate, more or less 

 connate. Stamens 10, free, exsertedj anthers tipped with a globose, 

 often stipitate gland. Ovary subsessUe, multiovulate ; style slender,, 

 stigma terminal. Legume linear, compressed, coriaceous, twisted, inde- 

 hiscent, or irregularly opening. Seeds compressed, shining. 



1. D. cinerea, "W. & A. Prodr. 271; Bedd. Fl. Sylv. t. 185.— Syn. 

 Mimosa cinerea, Eoxb. Cor. PL 174 ; Fl. Ind. ii. 561. Vem. Vurtuli, 

 Hind. ; Kunlai, kunrat, Mairwara. 



A rigid thorny shrub, or small tree,' with white or grey bark. Pubes- 

 cent, armed with axillary spines, straight, strong, and sharp, often pro- 

 longed into leaf-bearing branches. Leaves bipinnate, generally 1-2 in. 

 long; pinnae 8-10 pair, with stipitate glands at the base of each pair; 

 leaflets small, ciliate, 12-15 pair. Stipules subulate, \ in. long. Spikes 

 axillary, pedunculate, solitary, or 2-3 together, as long as, or shorter than 

 leaves; bracts lanceolate, membranous. Upper fertile flowers yellow, 

 the lower sterUe flowers white, purple, or rose-coloured. Pods 2-3 in. 

 long, \ in. broad, irregularly twisted, generally 3-8 on one peduncle; 

 seeds 10-15. 



Common on dry stony hiUs in South and Central India ; has been found as 

 far north as Futtehgarh on the Ganges, near Jeypur, and on the HUs of Mair- 

 wara, near Todgarh. Fl. hot season. Balk of trunk soft, with deep longi- 

 tudinal furrows. Heartwood hard, dark reddish brown. 



6. XYLIA, Benth. 



1. X. dolabriformis, Benth. 1. c. 417; Bedd. FL Sylv, t. 186.— Syn. 

 Inga xylocarpa, DC. ; W. & A. Prodr. 269. Mimosa xyloearpa, Eoxb. 

 Cor. PL t. 100; FL Ind. ii. 543. The Ironwood of Burma. Vern. 

 Jamha, Konkan; Boja, Godavery forests ; Pyrikado, Burm. 



A large tree, unarmed. Common petiole short, 1-2 in. long, bearing 1 

 pair of pinnis, with 2-6 pairs of oblong or ovate-oblong acuminate leaf- 

 lets 3-9 in. long, the terminal leaflets largest. Flowers pale yellow, in 



