482 LEGUMINOS^ — MOEINGACE^. 



or Campeachy-wood, which is employed both as a dye and as an 

 astringent. The inner wood is the part employed both in the arts 

 and oificinaUy. The alburnum is of a yellowish colour, and is not 

 imported. The red colouring principle is Hsematoxylin. Ccesalpinia 

 echinata furnishes Pernambuco-wood ; G. Sappan, Sappan-wood, the 

 Wukkum or Bukkum-wood of Scinde ; Saphia rdtida. Camwood. 

 Various species of Gopdifera, as G. Jacquinii, Langsdorfii, bijuga, 

 muUijuga, Martii, guianerms, coriacea, etc., furnish the balsam of 

 Copaiva, of which two kinds are distinguished — the West Indian and 

 Brazilian. The balsam contains a resin and volatile oil. It is used 

 in medicine as a stimulant, cathartic, and diuretic, and is especially 

 employed in the treatment of mucous inflammations. Gassia Ghamm- 

 crista, marilandica, and nictitans, all exhibit, according to Bromfield, a 

 high degree of irritability ; the leaflets close together when gathered, 

 and when rudely handled, or brushed by the feet in walking through 

 the herbage. Trachyldbiv/m mossa/mMcense yields Zanzibar copal. 



Sub-order Mimosem. The plants of this section yield Gum in 

 quantity, and their bark is frequently astringent. Acacia Ehrenbergii, 

 tortilis, Seyal, arahica, vera, gummifera, Adansonii, Verek, albida, and 

 various other species, yield the gummy substances known as Gum 

 Arabic, Gum Senegal, Barbary Gum, and East Indian Gum. A kind 

 of gum is procured at the Cape of Good Hope from Acacia Karroo ; and 

 in Australia, A. decurrens yields another variety. A variety of 

 Indian gum procured from A. arahica is called Babul, or Babool- 

 Gum ; Babul-bark is used for tanning in Scinde. These gums are all 

 more or less nutritive and demulcent, and are administered in the form 

 of mucilage, emulsion, or lozenges. The Wattles of Australia are species 

 of Acacia, which furnish astringent barks. An extract made from 

 them has been imported for the purpose of tanning. The duramen of 

 Acacia Gatechu, an Indian shrub, furnishes a kind of Catechu, or Cutch, 

 ■which contains much tannin, and is used for tanning, and as a power- 

 ful astringent. Some of the New Holland Acacias are remarkable 

 for the peculiar development of the petiole, which assumes the form 

 of a phyllodium (fig. 204, p. 96). The large seeds of Entada scarir 

 dens are sometimes carried by the winds and tides from the West 

 Indies to the shores of the outer Hebrides. Acacia Seyal is supposed to 

 be the Shittah Tree, nDtf, of Scripture, which furnished Shittim wood. 

 A. formosa supplies the Cuba timber called Sabicu. Some of the 

 plants in this sub-order display peculiar irritability in their pinnate 

 leaves. This is particularly the case with Mimosa sensitiva and pudica, 

 which are commonly called sensitive plants (p. 376). Almost all of 

 the pinnate-leaved Leguminous plants close their leaves in a marked 

 way during darkness. 



Order 65. — ^Moeingace*, the Moringa Family. (Polypet. Pi- 

 rigyn.) Calyx 5-partitej sestivation slightly imbricated. Petals 5, 



