265 



Bauhinia tomentosa, Linn. ; Fl. Trop. Afr. II. p. 290. 



Ill— Rheede, Hort. Mai. i.t. 35 ; Burman, Thes. Zeylan. t. 18* ; 

 Bot. Mag. t. 5560 (var. glabra) ; Wood, Natal PI. iv. t. 399. 



Vernac. names. — [Ati (Khandeish, India), Petan or Petang 

 (Ceylon) Mus. Kew].— St. Thomas Tree. 



Native of Ceylon and India. The stem yields a fibre used locally 

 in India and Ceylon, for making cord and rope (Mus. Kew). 



The dried leaves and flower buds are used by Native Indian 

 Doctors in dysenteric affections ; a decoction of the bark and root is 

 used in liver and phlegmatic complaints also as a vermifuge, and 

 bruised is occasionally applied to tumours and wounds (Moloney, 

 For. W. Afr. p. 332 ; Watt, Diet. Econ. Prod. India). 



The wood is dark, heavy and tough, heartwood nearly black. 



Commonly cultivated in the Tropics as a decorative plant. It was 

 introduced to Kew in 1860 from Benguella, Angola, and flowered in 

 1866 (Bot. Mag. t. 5560). McNair reports the cultivation of this plant 

 at the Botanic Station, Ebute Metta in 1889 (Rep. for Quarter ending 

 June 30, 1889, Lagos Bot. St.). 



Bauhinia variegata, Linn. Sp. PI. (1753) p. 375. 



A small tree ; branchlets slender, glabrous except at the tips, 

 which with the peduncles and buds are grey with a fine pubescence. 

 Leaves orbicular, 3-4 in, in diameter, bifid, 9—11 nerved, lobes 

 rounded, sinus acute with a mucro ; petiole 1-2 in. long, slender. 

 Flowers in short racemes, 4 in. in diameter. Calyx spathaceous, 

 tube as long as the limb. Petals clawed, obovate-oblong, obtuse, 

 delicately veined, rose-coloured, rose variegated with crimson, cream 

 colour and purple, or white, variegated with yellowish-green, the 

 lower more cuneate, streaked with crimson. Stamens 5, three 

 longer than the others, erect. Ovary slender, hairy, stipes and 

 style slender. Pod 1-2 ft. long, \-l\ ft. broad, flat, curved, stipitate, 

 acute or acuminate, septate within. Seeds broadly oblong, muoh 

 compressed (Bot. Mag. t. 6818). 



III. — Rheede, Hort. Mai. i. t. 32 (Chovanna-Mandaru) ; Cattley, 

 Ic. PL Chin. t. 26 (B. chinensis) ; Bot. Mag. t. 6818 ; t. 7312 

 (var. Candida). 



Native of the E. Indies ; Burma, and China. 



The leaves are made into cigarette covers in India (Watt, Comm. 

 Prod. India, p. 122), and also used as a vegetable, as are the flower 

 buds which are often pickled (Bot. Mag. t. 6818). The young pods 

 are also used in India as a vegetable, and almost every part of the 

 plant is used there in native medicine — the bark, flowers and root 

 triturated in rice water used as a cataplasm, a decoction of the root 

 in dyspepsia, the flowers taken with sugar as a laxative, and the 

 bark as a tonic and anthelmintic (Watt, I.e. pp. 121, 122). 



The bark is alterative, tonic and astringent (Mus. Kew), and is 

 employed for dyeing and tanning (Bot. Mag. I.e.). 



The tree yields the gum known as Sem or Semla gond with the 

 properties of Cherry gum (Diet. Econ. Prod. India). 



The wood is used for making agricultural implements in India. 

 It weighs 33-48 lbs. per cubic foot. (Gamble, Man. Ind.Timb. p. 281). 



The plant is of value for decorative purposes, and it is being 

 propagated and distributed from the various Botanic Stations in 

 S. Nigeria. McNair reports that it was well established and in flower 

 at Ebute Metta in 1888 (Rep. Bot, St. Lagos, Quarter ending 

 Dec. 31st, 1888). 



