I.EGUMINOSJE. 
315 
This tree appears to have been introduced into the Island 
many years since. In some districts it has been planted to 
form fences, and has received incorrectly the name of the 
Jerusalem Thorn. The extract, called Catechu, is obtained by 
boiling the inner part of the stem, and afterwards evapo- 
rating. It is of a reddish brown colour, possesses a degree of 
brilliancy and friability, and to the taste is sweetish, followed 
by a considerable degree of astringency. According to Sir 
Humphry Davy, it consists of about one-half its weight of tan- 
nin, and about one-third of a peculiar extract, combined with 
a portion of mucilage and some extraneous substances. It is a 
valuable astringent, and may be employed to restrain immo- 
derate discharges in all cases unattended with inflammatory 
action. It is given in diarrhoea and leucorrhcea, and, combined 
with the balsam of copaiba, in the chronic stage of gonorrhoea. It 
forms an excellent tooth-powder, strengthening the gums, and 
rectifying the breath when it is disagreeable. 
* * * Leaves bipinnate ; flowers collected into a 
globose head. 
5. Acacia tortuosa. Poponax. 
Spines in pairs connate, branches and petioles pub- 
escent, pinnae 2-6-jugate, leaflets 12-l6-jugate, a 
glandule beneath the lowest pair and frequently be- 
tween the extreme pairs of leaflets, heads of flowers 
solitary axillary, legumes terete curved like a horn 
pubescent. 
Acacia Americana siliqua ventricosa, Sloane, II. 56. — Mi- 
mosa tortuosa, Browne, 251 — Sicartz, Obs. 391. 
HAB. Common, especially in the dry plains on the South 
side of the Island. 
FL. After the rains in May. 
A shrubby tree, seldom more than 10 feet in height : branches 
diffuse, spreading. Spines stipulary, about \ an inch in length. 
Leaves 3-4 arising together. Heads of flowers yellow, of a 
heavy smell. Calyx and corolla 5-toothed. Stamens 20—24, 
monadelphous at the base. Legumen corniculated, roundish, 
torulose, attenuated at both ends, black : seeds ovate, com- 
pressed, black, lodged in a viscid pulp. 
This is an unsightly tree, of very little use except as fuel. 
All parts of the plant are astringent. 
6. Acacia parvifolia. Small-leaved Acacia. 
Spines stipulary, branchlets towards their extremi- 
ties puberulous, petioles pubescent, pinnae 5-6-ju- 
