186 
FLORA OF ADEN. 
“ In planta hacce vegetant Hyphomycetes qui a nonnullis glandulae 
capitulatae vocantur ; a me autem partes hae byssi ex facie putredine 
partium novellarum et succulentarum ortsecontestantur.” Batka in folio 
Herb. Kew. 
The following species is grown as an ornamental tree near a well at 
Shaikh Othman : 
5. Cassia auriculata L. Sp. Pl. (1753) p. 379; Schweinf. Bull. 
Herb. Boiss. 1896, App. II, 221. 
Name : — ■Tanner’s Cassia. 
Description : — A tall much-branched shrub ; bark smooth, reddish- 
brown ; branchlets finely pubescent. Leaves 3 — 4 inches long ; rhachis 
densely fulvous-pubescent with an erect linear gland between each pair 
of leaflets; stipules foliaceous, reflexed, very large, rotundato-reniform, 
produced at the base on the side next the petiole into a long subulate 
point, persistent. Leaflets 8 — 12 pairs, § — 1 by ■§ — | inch, slightly 
overlapping, oblong-obovate, obtuse or emarginate, mucronate, glabrous 
or finely downy, dull green above, paler beneath, base usually rounded ; 
petioles J inch long. 
Flowers large, reaching 2 inches across, in terminal and axillary 
corymbose racemes ; pedicels f — 1 inch long ; bracts ovate, acuminate, 
caducous. Calyx glabrous; segments leathery, concave, the 2 outer 
much smaller than the other 3. Petals with long claws, crisped on the 
margin, bright yellow, veined with orange. Stamens 10, of which the 
3 upper are reduced to staminodes, the remaining 7 perfect, of which 
the 3 lower are longer than the 4 lateral ones. 
Pods 3 — 5 by J — •§ inch, flat, thin, papery, oblong, obtuse, mucronate, 
pale brown, deeply depressed between the seeds, having a crumpled 
appearance, transversely veined, pubescent. 
Flowers and fruits: — November (Schweinf,). 
Distribution : — India and Ceylon (common on dry stony hills and 
on black soils) . 
Uses : — The bark is largely used in tanning and gives a buff-coloured 
leather. The seeds are valued as a local application in purulent ophthal- 
mia. An infusion of the leaves is esteemed as a cooling medicine and 
as a substitute for tea. The root is said to be of great value in temper- 
ing iron metal. 
3. Parkinsonia Plum. 
Shrubs or small trees. Leaves bipinnate ; pinnae 2 — 6, very long, 
flattened. Leaflets numerous, small, oblong or linear, opposite or scat- 
tered. 
