F A B A C E JE. 



255 



no means as satisfactory as could be wished, will be found to contain the 

 sum of our knowledge on this intricate subject. 



* Glandless. 



1. C. medica, Forskall. — Leaflets 5 — 8 pairs on short petioles, lanceolate-acute, smooth 

 above, downy beneath. Petioles glandless. Legumes pendulous, membraneous flat, 

 nearly straight. 



A perennial, shrubby plant, with erect, round, smooth, stems, somewhat flexuous 

 near their extremities. The leaves are alternate, abruptly pinnate, with 5 — 8 pairs of 

 leaflets on short pedicels ; they are ovate-acute on the lower branches, and lanceolate- 

 acute on the upper portions of the plant ; somewhat mucronate, smooth above, rather 

 downy beneath, especially when young ; with the veins turning inwards and forming a 

 flexuous intramarginal line ; petiole glandless ; stipules softly spinescent, semi-hastate, 

 spreading, minute. Racemes axillary and terminal, erect, stalked, rather longer than the 

 leaves, pedicels ebracteolate. Sepals linear, obtuse. Petals bright yellow. Five lower 

 stamens small and sterile, the two next large, curved and perfect, the three uppermost 

 very small and glandlike. Ovary linear, downy, falcate, with a recurved, smooth style. 

 Legumes pendulous, oblong, membraneous, about 1^ inch long and § broad, straight, 

 tapering abruptly to the base and rounded at the apex, containing 5 — 8 whitish rugose 



Forskall, Fl. Arab. 111.; C. lanceolata, Royle, Illus. 37 ; Mat. Med. 351 ; 

 Wight and Arnott, i. 288; Wallich, Med. Jour. 1837; C. elongata, Lem. 

 Lisanc, Jour. Pharm. vii. 345 ; Fee, Cours d^Hist. Nat. Pharm., ii. 69 ; 

 Pereira, Mat. Med. ii. 593 ; Wood and Bache, C. officinalis ; Goertner, ii. t. 

 146 ; Roxburgh, Fl. Ind. ii. 346. 



The following appear to belong to this species : 



Fig. 130. 



a. C. LANCEOLATA, 



Royle (p. c.) — Leaf- 

 lets large, thin, lance- 

 olate, smooth above, 

 a little downy be- 

 neath. Legumes ob- 

 long, membraneous, 

 straight, tapering 

 suddenly at base, 

 and rounded at apex. 



This is culti- 

 vated in India ; 

 originally from 

 Arabian seeds, 

 but is stated by 

 Dr. Burns to be 

 wild near Kaira 

 in Guzerat (Royle 

 Mat. Med. 351). 

 It does not seem 



to differ in any essential character from the " Senna meccse, Lohajse inve- 

 niebatur, foliis 5 — 7 jugis, lineari-lanceolatis." Forskall, (o. c.) 



b. C. lanceolata of most authors; C. acutifolia, Heyne, ix. t. 41. Nees and Eberm. t. 

 345. 



The leaves of this variety constitute the largest proportion of the Alexan- 

 dria senna of commerce. It grows in upper Egypt, to the south and east 

 of Syene and Assouan. Royle is of opinion that it is the plant figured by 



C. medica, var. C. lanceolata, Royle. 

 1. Separated flowers. 2. Seed. 3. Legume. 



