TAMARINDUS INDICUS. (Nat. order Leguminosse.) 



TaMARINDUS. Linn. — GEN. CHAR. Sepals 4, united at the base iu to a turbinate tube, the free portion or segments much imbricate. 

 Petals 3, tbe lateral ones ovate, the upper inner one narrower, concave. Stamens incurved, united in a sheath to the middle, 3 or rarely 2 only perfect, 

 with ovate anthers, 4 or 5 others reduced to short teeth. Ovary stipitate, with several ovules ; style infiexed, rather thick, with a truncate stigma. Pod 

 linear or oblong-linear, curved thick, but slightly compressed, the epicarp crustaceous and fragile, the mesocarp pulpy, the endoearp thick and fleshy, 



forming complete partitions between the seeds. Seeds broadly ovate, flattened ; testa rather thick ; albumen none, embryo straight, with a short radicle. 



Trees. Leaves abruptly pinnate. Flowers in terminal racemes. 



TAMARINDUS INDICUS. (Linn. J A very large tree, with a beautiful spreading Lead, leaves about 4-5 inches long 

 by 1-1 j inches broad glabrous but pale or glaucous, leaflets 10-20 pairs oblong-linear obtuse unequal-sided at the base \-\ inch long by 

 about 3 lines broad, petiolules generally hairy, stipules small deciduous, racemes short and loose, really terminal but usually in very 

 short branchlets so as to appear lateral and shorter than the leaves, flowers cream colored or yellowish, blotched with crimson, about 1 

 inch in diameter, bracts very deciduous, calyx segments about 4 lines long, petals rather longer, pod about 1 inch broad varying in 

 length according to the number of seeds ripened, usually 2 or 3. DC. ii. 488 ; — Benlh. Fl. Aust. ii. p. 294. T. occidentalis, Gartn. 

 T. officinalis, Hook. 



This tree, the only species of the genus, is common both wild and cultivated throughout Tropical Asia and also in Africa and Australia, 

 and cultivated in the West Indie:', it is perhaps our finest tree for avenue and topepurposes, but its slow growth is somewhat against it ; Us fruit 

 yields a considerable revenue in some districts, the heart wood is generally of small diameter, very hard close grained and sometimes beautifully 

 veined of a dark-reddish color and hard to be worked, unseasoned it weighs 92-9S lbs. the cubic foot, and when seasoned 79 lbs. and its specific 

 gravity is 1-264, it is much used for turnery purposes and for pestles, oil presses, sugar crushers, carpenter's mallets and planes, croquet mallet 

 heads and balls, and many other purposes, and is one of the best fuels for brick kilns as it burns whilst green; and is esteemed as excellent for 

 gunpowder charcoal, the heart ivood is only procurable from very old trees ; the sap wood is of a dirty white color not durable and if not seasoned 

 in water gets worm eaten. The leaves, fruit and seed are used medicinally by the natives, and a dye is prepared, from the leaves, a paste made of 

 the seeds reduced to fine powder and boiled with thin glue forms one of the strongest wood cements. The tree is called Amli in Eindustanee, 

 Chinta in Telugu. Fooli in Tamil, Seyembalu in Ceylon, and Md-gyi in Birmah, it attains a girth of 25 feet but has never any great length of 

 trunk. 



1S4 



