Wild Tamarind 



521 



heads are white-woolly before the flowers open, 1.5 to 2 cm. in diameter; the calyx 

 is bell-shaped, broadly 5-lobed, i mm. long, about half the length of the corolla 

 with its 5 reflexed lobes; stamens about 20, twice as long as the corolla, the 

 filaments united into a slender tube toward the base; ovary smooth, nearly or 

 quite sessile, the style fihform. The fruit ripens in autumn, remaining upon the 

 branches for several months; it is flat, broadly linear or oblong, 8 to 15 cm. long, 

 2.5 cm. broad, straight or nearly so, wavy-margined, pointed at the apex, tapering 

 at the base into a stalk 3 to 4 cm. long, dark brown-, not splitting through its per- 

 sistent margin but falling away from it by the slow disintegration of the papery 

 valves; the seeds are transverse in the pod, oval to oblong, flattened, about 12 

 mm. long, dark brown and shining. 



The wood is hard, not strong but tough, close-grained, dark reddish brown, 

 the sapwood nearly white; its specific gravity is about 0.64. It is esteemed by 

 boat and ship-builders. 



The genus Lysiloma, of which this is the type species, consists of about 10 

 species, all tropical American. Its name is from the Greek, in reference to the 

 way the sides of the pod separate from its margin. 



Fig. 482. — Wild Tamarind, Inagua, Bahamas. 



