416 



DOMESTIC BOTANY. 



Pottery Tree. The genus Licania and Couepia^ consist 

 of a considerable number of handsome tall trees, natives, 

 chiefly, of the forests of Brazil and Guiana, several being 

 remarkable for having a quantity of silex in their bark. 

 The most famous is that called by the Indians, " Caraipe ;" 

 by some botanists referred to Moquilea utilis, and by others 

 to a species of Licania. The bark is very hard and brittle. 

 It is burnt by the Indians and reduced to a powder, which 

 they mix with clay and afterwards make into vessels that 

 stand fire heat. Specimens of the bark, and vessels made 

 from it, are to be seen in the Museum at Kew. 



Hirtella silicea. A considerable-sized tree, native of 

 Trinidad. It also contains silex, and is used by the natives 

 for making pottery. 



The Bean and Mimosa Family. 



(Leguminos^.) 



Trees, shrubs, or herbs, often twining or tendril climbing 

 ampelids. Leaves simple, winged or compound-winged, 

 furnished with stipules, true leaves sometimes absent (as in 

 many Acacias). Calyx 5 -cleft, unequal. Petals generally 

 5, equal and regular, or unequal and papilionaceous. Sta- 

 mens few or generally 10 or more, wholly united or 

 9 united, and 1 free or all free. Pistil 1, often curved. 

 Fruit, a 1- or many-seeded legume, rarely a 1-seeded drupe. 



This is the second largest family of plants in the vegetable 

 kingdom. They are found in aU countries favourable to 

 plant life, and probably consist of not less than 7000 species, 

 varying in size from the creeping Trefoil to the lofty Mora 

 and Courharil trees. They all agree in one important cha- 

 racter, of their fruit being what is called a legume or pod, as 

 in the Pea, Bean, and Scarlet-runner. The pod, however, 

 varies very much in form, size, and texture, being cylin- 

 drical, convex, angular, flat, straight, crooked or spiral; 

 and thin membranous, leathery, woody, and even I3ulpy ; 

 from less than an inch to several feet in length. The flowers 



