312 LBaUMINOSM, [Mimosa, 



Flowers 4-inerous, red turning to white. Corolla very small. Stamens 

 8-10. Pod 3-5 in. long linear-o"blong, curved, glabrous, 6-10-seeded ; 

 joints square, separating from the sutures which are usually not prickly. 

 Common within the area, in open grassy places, in water-courses and 

 along the hanks of rivers. Distbib. Throughout India, ascending 

 to 5,000. ft. on the outer Himalaya ; also in Afghanistan. Flowers 

 from J uly to September. The leaves and seeds are used medicinally, 

 and gun-powder charcoal is prepared from the wood. It is an ex- 

 cellent plant for hedges. 



3, M Hamata, Willd. 8p. PI. iv, 1033 ; W. Sc A. Prod. 268 ; D Sr Q 

 Bomb. Fl. 85 ; F. B. I. ii, 291. 



Closely allied to M. ruUcauUs as to'; habit and inflorescence. Pinnce 3-4 

 pairs ; leaflets 6-10 pairs, minute, linear-oval, pubesent. Peduncles 

 longer than the leaves. Pod stalked, linear, curved, pubescent, 3-7- 

 jointed, the sutures and stalk armed with large hooked prickles. 



Bundelkhand and Merwara. r Distbib. Punjab, C. and S. India. 



72. ACACIA, Willd. ; Fl. Brit. Ind. ii, 2^2. 



Spinose or prickly shrubs or trees, erect or climbing. Leaves 

 bipinnate, with minute leaflets. Flowers in globose heads or cylin- 

 drical spikes, hermaphrodite or polygamous, usually 5-merous. 

 Calyx campanulate or funnel-shaped, shortly toothed. Petals 

 exserted, united in the lower half. Stamens free, indefinite, much 

 exserted; anthers minute, not gland-crested. Ovary stalked or 

 sessile, many-ovuled ; style filiform ; stigma minute, capitate. Pod 

 ligulate or oblong, uot jointed, usually compressed and dry, dehisceot 

 or indehiscent, rarely turgid or subcylindric, sutures straight or 

 wavy, not thickened. — Species about 430. The leafy groups are cos- 

 mopolitan in the tropics ; whilst the phyllodineous series, compris- 

 ing about two-thirds of the species, is almost restricted to Australia. 

 Trees or erect shrubs with stipular spines 

 or prickles. 



Flowers in globose heads, spines long, 

 straight. 



Heads axillary, fascicled. 

 Pod thick, cylindrical ; seeds in a 



double row . . . . 1. A. Farnesiana, 



Pod flat, momiliform, persistently 



grey-downy 2. A. arahica. 



Pod flat, not moniliform. Leaflets 6-8 

 pairs, glabrous or nearly so. 



Pod narrowly ligulate, with repand 

 sutures 3. A, ehurnea. 



