I.EGUMINOSJE. 
331 
XLVI. PoiNCIANA. 
Calycine sepals 5, unequal, united at the base into 
a persistent cupule ; the lowest one hooded. Petals 
5, clawed; the upper one difformed. Stamens 10, 
very long, all perfect ; filaments hirsute at the base. 
Style very long, Legume piano-compressed, 2-val- 
ved, submultilocular with spongy isthmi : seeds ob- 
ovate, compressed ; endopleura a gelatinous fluid ; 
cotyledons plane ; plumule oval. — Be Cand. 
Named , by Tournefort, in memory of De Poinci, Governor 
of the Antilles, a patron of Botany. 
Poinciana pulcherrima. Barbadoes Flower -fence or 
Pride. 
Prickly, leaflets obovatc, calyx smooth, petals fim- 
briated on a long claw. 
Senna spuria arborea spinosa, foliis alatis ramosis seu decom- 
positis, flore ex luteo et rubro specioso, Sloane, II. 49. — Caesal- 
pinia pulcherrima, Swartz, Obs. 160. — Poinciana aculeata, 
Browne , 225. — P. pulcherrima, Jaeq. Amer. 122. — De Cand. 
Prod. 1 1. 484. 
HAB. Dry thickets. River-courses. Liguanea. 
FL. Throughout the year. 
This prickly shrub is usually about 10 feet in height. The 
flowers are very showy, red or less frequently yellow, with long 
stamens, arranged in a terminal corymb. It is supposed to 
have originally been a native of the East Indies. It appears, 
however, from Sloane, to have been common at a very early 
period after the discovery of the Island. It is stated by Ligon, 
that it was brought- to Barbadoes from the Cape de Verd 
Islands. 
The leaves when bruised have a smell resembling that of 
savine, and the infusion, as also that of the flowers, is considered 
a powerful emmenagogue, so as even to bring on abortion. 
The leaves are also said to be purgative, and to have been used 
as a substitute for senna. The seeds, in powder, are stated 
to form a remedy for the belly-ach. It has been proposed to 
employ the shrub itself in making fences ; but it is not well 
adapted for this purpose, from the branches being long and not 
much subdivided, and few and naked towards the root. 
XLVII. Hasmatoxylon. Logwood. 
Calycine sepals 5, coalescing at the base into a short 
