1837.] 



Dr. Wallich o?i Cassia Lanceolata. 



357 



thickening and clavate. Bracte exceedingly thin, me mbranous, pellu- 

 cid, obovate, obtuse, concave, embracing the oblong and obtuse flower 

 bud with its pedicel, adnate at the broadish base, falling'ofT before ex- 

 pansion takes place. Calycine segments oblong, obtuse, concave, about 

 I of an inch long, very thin and delicate, recurved, caducous. Corolla 

 of an uniform pale-yellow gold colour, spreading, twice as long as the 

 calyx ; petals unequal, caducous ; the uppermost oblong-cuneate, ses* 

 sile ; the others obovate, and supported on very short claws ; I of an 

 inch long, many times broader than the setals ; they are all obtuse, 

 somewhat triplinerved, finely reticulated on the outer surface, with 

 slightly elevated nerves and veins. Anthers very unequal, of two 

 kinds ; three sterile ones very short and small, placed under the nar- 

 row upper petal, subsagittate, retuse ; seven are fertile, linear, with sa- 

 gittate bases and oblique biporous apex ; of these, five are straight, 

 much longer than the former ; the one under the pistil has a longer fila- 

 ment than the others ; two are curved and very long, reaching above 

 the middle of the lateral petals. Pistil curved, longer than the stamens ; 

 ovary linear, covered with grey adpressed pubescence, margins swelled, 

 the sides marked by eight little protuberances caused by the ovules; 

 base supported by a short, fleshy, pubescent pedicel ; style bent down- 

 wards, cylindric, except at the base, which is slightly compressed; stig- 

 ma minute, acute. Pod oblong, flat, almost foliaceous, pendulous, be- 

 fore maturity glaucous, and with a number of short adpressed hairs, af- 

 terwards almost smooth, of a dark brown colour, shining on the bloom 

 being rubbed off; 1| incn long by | in breadth; oblong, slightly curv- 

 ed or scymetar-shaped ; one of the finely elevated margins being lon- 

 gitudinally convex, the other concave ; very obtuse and obliquely cus- 

 pidulate at the end ; base rounded, and supported by a short pedicel ; 

 sides a little elevated along the middle, and marked across by slight 

 swellings and depressions caused by the seeds ; a number of parallel 

 approximate capillary veins, originating from the marginal nerve, run 

 obliquely across the sides towards the middle, forming reticulated anas- 

 tomoses there as well as along their course by means of lateral veins. 

 Valves flat, pale-ferruginous and a little pitted within. Dissepiments 

 extremely thin and narrow, vanishing towards the ma rgins. Seeds 

 mostly eight, of a greenish-grey colour, shining, solitary in each cell 

 between, the dissepiments, flattened, triangular, obcordate, about four 

 lines long; their base contracted into a short thick obtuse beak, from 

 which a ridge ascends on each side towards the middle ; the sides as 

 well as the thick margins are scabrous from numerous unequal small 

 protuberances. Funicle long, transversal, a little adscending, capilla- 

 ry, originating from the concave margin of the pod, and inserted into 

 one side of the beak of the seed, disappearing on the latter coming to 

 maturity. The interior structure, indeed the whole pod, corresponds 



