290 xliv. leguminos^e. [Cassia 



66. CASSIA L. ; Benth. & Hook. f. Gen. PL i. p. 571. 



1. C. Sieberiana DC. Prodr. ii. p. 489 (1825) ; Oliv. PI. Trop. 

 Afr. ii. p. 270; Benth. in Trans. Linn. Soc. xxvii. p. 516 (1871); 

 Picalho, PI. TJteis, p. 151 (1884). 



C. psilocarpa Welw. Apont. p. 587, n. 40. 



Pungo Andongo. — A small tree, perhaps a young one, 12 ft. high, 

 branched at the base. Legumes 1 to 2 ft. long, cylindrical, nearly 1 in. 

 thick. Native name of the plant " Mossambe," and of the fruit 

 " M6ssue " or " Mosua." Employed as a charm, especially in aural 

 diseases. In wooded places near Quitage on the left bank of the river 

 Cuanza, at a spot once much populated but then almost deserted ; 

 without fl. March 1857 ; also forming rather extensive low woods in 

 the same region, April 1857. No. 1740. An elegant tree of middle 

 height ; crown spreading, leafy ; pods pendulous, 2 to 3 ft. long when 

 ripe, cylindrical, used by the natives for curing various diseases and as 

 a charm against corpulency. Fr. June 1857. Coll. Carp. 475. 



This species is rather rare in Pungo Andongo, but more abundant in 

 the country of the Songo and in that of the eastern Congo ; the legumes 

 much resemble those of C. Fistula L., although the shape of the seeds is 

 a little different ; it is the Cassia fistula of Angola (Cannafistula), and 

 the pods are met with in all the markets of the coast, where the native 

 medical men obtain them, not for the purpose of compounding their 

 physic, but to provide them with an instrument of divination in the 

 detection of the origin of any malady, deed, etc. These impostors 

 employ the utmost skill in artfully examining not only the poor patient 

 but also his relatives and acquaintances, all of whom would be afraid 

 of an accusation or suggestion of being the cause or provoker of the 

 malady. Welwitsch never observed any therapeutical value in this 

 Cannafistula, nor did he discover in it any of the sweet pulp which that 

 of India contains in abundance. (See Welw. Synopse, p. 51 n. 138.) 



The following Nos. (1738 and 17385), represented only by foliage, 

 may belong to C. Sieberiana DC. ; but the leaflets are larger and 

 more acute ; they should also be compared with C. Fistula L. ; the 

 leaflets much resemble those of No. 592, which is doubtfully referred 

 to Intsia africana O.K., but they are more numerous (8 pairs) : — 



Island of St. Thomas. — In the more elevated mountainous forests 

 of the island, at about 2000 ft. alt. ; a leaf only sent to Welwitsch 

 in the year 1862 from this island under the name of Cannafistula. 

 No. 1738. 1861. No. 1738&. 



The following No. is apparently an allied species : — 



Huilla. — A small tree of 10 to 15 ft. ; flowers not yet seen ; pods 

 1 to 1J ft. long, cylindrical, packed with a close sweet-bitter meal, 

 many-celled ; seeds vertical, not horizontal. In thickets near Huilla ; 

 fr. end of Oct. 1859. Coll. Carp. 17. 



Possibly allied to C. Fistula L., but more slender ; it is apparently 

 the plant referred to by Welwitsch, Synopse, p. 52, n. 139 (1862), 

 under the name of " Cassia fistula de Huilla," which he describes as a 

 pretty little tree that adorns the thin forests composed of species of 

 Acacia, Protea, Erythrina, Myrtacese, and Parinari, in the neighbour- 

 hood of Lopollo and of the lake Ivantala in this district ; the pulp 

 of the pods has a peculiar well-dsfined aroma and a singular bitter- 

 sweet taste ; though the native medical men did not appear to employ 

 the fruits in their drugs, Welwitsch recommended them to the attention 

 of pharmacologists ; the trees bear a large crop of pods. 



