DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE. 219 



typhoid fever. The root is especially active, and the leaves are used medicinally 

 in many countries, especially in Dahomey, Africa, where they are one of the 

 most important drugs used in the hospitals in the treatment of certain fevers. « They 

 are purgative and antiherpetic. Large quantities are received annually at Bordeaux 

 and Marseille. In 1897 nearly 100 tons of the seed was imported into Europe. In 

 1898 the value of the export from Senegal amounted to 1,000 francs. 

 References: 



Cassia occidentalis L. Sp. PL 1 : 377. 1753. 



Cassia sensitiva Roxb. Same as Cassia mimosoides. 



Cassia sophera. Edible senna. 



Local names. — Amot-tumaga, Amot-tomaga (Guam). 



A plant resembling Cassia occidentalis, but of a more shrubby habit, and with more 

 numerous, smaller, narrower leaflets and shorter, broader, more turgid pods. Leaf 

 with a single large gland placed just above the base of the petiole; leaflets 6 to 12 pairs, 

 lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, acute, without glands between them; flowers yellow, 

 racemes terminal or axillary, few-flowered; stamens 10, the upper 3 imperfect; pods 

 glabrous, many-seeded, linear, turgid; suture keeled; seeds horizontal, with cellular 

 partitions. 



The leaves are variable in shape and size. A common variety in Guam has the 

 leaves smaller and more obtuse than the typical form. The single gland on the 

 petiole and the size and shape of the leaves will serve to distinguish this species 

 from the others on the island. 



Widely spread in the Tropics. In India the leaves are eaten by natives in their 

 curries. An infusion of the bark has been given as a remedy for diabetes; and the 

 bruised leaves and bark of the root, powdered and mixed with honey, are applied 

 externally in ringworm and ulcers. As in the case of C. occidentalis, the smell of 

 the plant is disagreeable. 

 References: 



Cassia sophera L. Sp. PL 1: 379. 1753. 



Cassia tora. Low senna. 



Local names. — Mumutun adamelon, Mumutun palaoan (Guam). 



An annual glabrous undershrub, with even pinnate leaves. Leaflets 2 to 4 pairs, a 

 gland on the rachis between the lowest pair, and sometimes between the next pair, 

 but never between the uppermost; stipules linear-subulate, at length deciduous; leaf- 

 lets thin, obovate, obtuse; flowers yellow, small, in pairs or in short axillary few- 

 flowered racemes; calyx lobes oblong, obtuse; stamens 10, the anthers of the upper 

 3 imperfect; pod linear, very slender, strongly curved, 15 to 2.5 cm. long by 6 

 mm. wide, membranous, the sutures very broad, the seeds flattened in the same 

 direction as the pod. 



Of world-wide distribution in the Tropics. In Guam it has been a common weed 

 for more than a century. The leaves are mucilaginous and ill smelling. They are 

 said to be aperient. In India they are fried in castor oil and applied to ulcers. 

 The root, rubbed with lime juice, is a remedy for ringworm. 

 References: 



Cassia tora L. Sp. PL 1: 376. 1753. 



Cassytha filiformis. Wire vine. Dodder laurel. 



Family Lauraceae. 



Local names. — Mayagas (Guam); Devil's guts (Australia). 

 A leafless, wiry, twining parasitic plant with the habit of Cuscuta, very common 

 in thickets, adhering to branches of other plants by means of small protuberances or 



«Wildeman, Les Plantes Tropicales de Grande Culture, p. 72-73 (Brussels, 1902). 



