Parkia] 



XLV. LEGUMINOS^ 



263 



originally American, is a large unarmed shrub or low tree ; pinnse 4-8 pair ; leaflets 

 10-15 pair, ^ in. long. Fl. white, in dense globose heads, bisexual, mixed with slender 

 bracteoles, broader at the top. Peduncle thick, woody in fruit, bearing numerous pods, 

 which are flat, stipitate, early dehiscent, linear, 5-7 in. long ; seeds numerous, shining, 

 lenticular, made into ornaments. 



8. MIMOSA, Linn.; Fl. Brit. Ind. ii. 291. 



Herbs or shrubs, rarely trees ; 1. in many species sensitive. Pinnge stipeilate. 

 n. in dense globose heads. Petals 4 or 5, rarely 3 or 6. Stamens generally 

 twice the number of petals and more than twice their length. Pod linear or 

 oblong, the valves separating (entire or in transverse joints) from the persis- 

 tent sutures. Species 300, mostly American, a few in Asia and Africa. 



1. M. rubicaulis, Lam.— Syn. M. octandra, Roxb. Cor. PL t. 200. Vern. 

 HaJerOj Sind ; Agla^ Eil, AUa, Al Eal, Hind. ; Vundra, Tel. 



A straggling prickly shrub, 

 pubescent, branches, petioles and 

 peduncles armed with short 

 curved sharp prickles ; stem at- 

 taining 5 in. diam. Pinnse 3-12 

 pair, the lowest often not exactly 

 opposite ; leaflets 6-15 pair, 

 obliquely oblong, the midrib 

 lateral. PL tetramerous, pink, 

 in fasciculate pedunculate heads. 

 Pod stipitate, glabrous, curved, 

 3-4 in. long, separating in square 

 joints from the sutural frame, 

 sutures generally without 

 prickles. Seeds 6-10. 



Common in most parts of India, 

 except the arid region ; in the outer 

 Himalaya ascending to 4,000 ft. 

 Fl. K. S. Wood, used for gunpowder 

 charcoal. 2. M. hamata, "Willd. ; 

 Surat, Deccan and east side of the 

 Western Peninsula ; pinnse 3-4 pair ; 

 leaflets 6-10 pair, midrib near the 

 middle of leaflet. Sutures armed 

 with numerous hooked prickles. 

 Specimens of this, from Bombay, Fig. 114.— Mimosa rubicaulis. Lam. ^. 



have been identified with M. poly- 



ancistra, Benth., an American species. 3. M. pudica, Linn., the Sensitive Plant, 

 naturalized, introduced from America, clothed with long bristly hairs ; pinnse 3-4, 

 digitate ; pod ^ in. long, with abundant straw-coloured prickles. Seeds 3-4. 



9. ACACIA, Willd. ; PI. Brit. Ind. ii. 292. 



(The following characters relate only to the Indian species.) 



Trees, shrubs and climbers, armed with stipular, infra-stipular or scattered 

 spines. L. bipinnate, pinnse and leafliets opposite. Fl. yellow or white, in 

 globose heads or cylindrical spikes ; numerous scaly bracteoles between the 

 flowers. Calyx and corolla 4-5-merous. Stamens free, generally very numerous. 

 Pod dehiscent or indehiscent. Species 450, tropical and subtropical regions of 

 both hemispheres, chiefly Australia. 



A. Trees or shrubs ; stipules ^pinescent ; fl. in globose heads. 



1. A. Farnesiana, Willd.; Bedd. Fl. Sylv. t. 52.— Syn. Vachellia Far- 

 nesiana, W. et A. ; Wight Ic. t. 300. Vern. Waldyti Kikar, Hind. 



