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CASSIA FISTULA. 
Purging Cassia.*" 
Class Decandria. — Order MoNOGYNiA. 
Nat. Ord. Lomentac^, Linn. Leguminose^, Juss. 
Gen. Char. CaZyx five-leaved. Petals five. Anthers three 
superior, barren; the three lower ones beaked. Lomentum. 
Spec. Char. Leaves pinnate. Pinna from four to six pairs^ 
ovate, pointed, smooth. Petioles without glands. 
This species of cassia is a native of Egypt, the East and West 
Indies, and Ceylon, flowering in June and July. It appears to have 
been long known in the Eastern countries ; both Avicenna and 
Serapion make mention of it, and Prosper Alpinus notices the 
fragrance of its flowers ; its use is supposed to have been dis- 
covered by the Arabian physicians.f This tree was introduced 
into England about the year 1731, and cultivated in the Botanic 
Garden at Chelsea by Mr. P. Miller. 
The stem of this tree rises to forty or more feet in height, pro- 
ducing many spreading branches towards the top : both trunk and 
branches are covered with a brownish, soft cinerhious bark ; the 
leaves are composed of from four to six pairs of ovate, pointed, 
undulated nerved, pinnae, which are of a pale green colour, and 
stand upon short peduncles ; the flowers are of a golden yellow 
colour, are produced on long terminal pendant spikes, and stand 
upon long peduncles ; the calyx consists of five oblong, blunt, 
crenulated leaves, of a pale greenish colour ; the corolla is com- 
posed of five unequal, undulated, and spreading petals ; the 
filaments are ten, of these the three undermost are long and incurved, 
the remaining seven exhibit only the large anthers, three of which 
are rostrated, or open at the extremity, like the beak of a bird ; the 
* Fig. a. the top part of a spike of blossoms, 6, A leaf. c. A portion of the pod. 
+ Cassia Fistula is supposed to be the Eiarxamber of Serapion, and the Chaiarlauder 
of ^viceqna. 
