Leguminosae. 97 
The fruit is officially recognized in Europe and America as a 
valuable laxative and as a refrigerant in fever. As food it is used 
in curries and chutneys of which it is a pleasing ingredient. Still 
another use is made of the seeds, which after having been pulverized 
are boiled with thin glue into a paste, and form an exceedingly strong 
wood-cement, perhaps one of the strongest known. 
The wood is yellowish white, hard and rather close-grained ; 
the heartwood is comparatively small and dark purplish brown in 
color. It is highly prized but very difficult to work, and is employed 
in India for wheels, mallets, furniture, etc. 
The Tamarind is easily propagated from seed and forms an ex- 
cellent shade tree for roadsides, especially well adapted to dry lo- 
calities. 
Bauhinia tomentcsa L. 
Plate XL. 
This species is an erect, branching shrub, ten to fifteen feet in 
height ; the branchlets, lower surfaces of the leaves and the pods are 
somewhat velvety tomentose. The leaves are about as wide as they 
are long and are split one-third to the base into two ovate rounded 
lobes. The flowers are pale lemon yellow, usually in pairs or single 
on axillary pedicels. The pod is about four inches long, half an inch 
wide, flattened, pointed, and contains six to ten seeds. 
This Bauhinia is a native of India, especially common in the 
northwest Provinces and extending throughout India to China, Cey- 
lon and tropical Africa. 
It is usually cultivated for ornamental purposes and flowers most 
of the year. In Honolulu it is occasionally met with, but has not 
been planted as commonly as Bauhinia monandra; plants may be 
found in Kapiolani Park and on the corner of Punahou Street and 
Wilder Avenue, opposite the Pleasanton Hotel. 
The wood is tough and close-grained, but when full-grown it is 
very soft. As a medicine the plant is antidysenteric and useful in 
liver complaints. A decoction of the root-bark is useful in inflam- 
mation of the liver, while the dried buds and young flowers are pre- 
scribed in dysenteric affections. From the bark the natives of India 
prepare a durable fibre. 
