Flora Medica

FABACEJE, OR LEGUMINOSJE.529. P. Marsupium Roxb. carom, t ii. l\Q. ind. iii.fl. 234.DC. prodr.ii. 418. W. and A. i. 266. P. bilobus G. Don syst.ii. 376. Circar mountains.Trunk erect, very high, scarcely ever'found straight. Bark, with theouter coat brown, spongy, falling off in flakes ; inwardly red, fibrous,and astringent. Branches spreading, horizontal, numerous, extendingfar. Leaves sub-bifarious, alternate, pinnate with an odd one, 8 or 9inches long. Leaflets 5, 6, or 7, alternate, elliptic, emarginate, firm,above shining, and deep green ;below less so, from 3 to 5 inches longand 2 or 3 broad; petioles round, smooth, waved from leaflet to leaflet,5 or 6 inches long ; stipules none. Panicles terminal, very large ;ramificationsbifarious, like the leaves. Peduncles and pedicels round, alittle downy. Bractes small, caducous, solitary below each division andsub-division of the panicle. Flowers very numerous, white, with asmall tinge of yellow. Vexillum with a long slender claw, very broad ;sides reflexed, waved, curled, veined; keel 2-petalled, adhering slightlyfor a littleway near the middle, waved &c. as the vexillum. Filaments10, united in 1body near the base, but soon splitting into 2 bodiesof 5 each. Anthers globose, 2-lobed. Ovary oblong, pedicelled, hairy,generally 2-celled; cells transverse, and 1 -seeded. Style ascending.Legume f-orbicular, the upper remainder, which extends from thepedicel to the remains of the style, straight, the whole surrounded witha waved, veined, downy, membranous wing, swelled, rugose, and woodyin the centre, where the seed is lodged, not opening; generally 1, thoughsometimes 2-celled. Seed solitary, kidney-shaped. Roxburgh suspectsthis to be the tree that produces gum kino, a well-known astringent.The red juice hardens into a dark red very brittle gum-resin,which on being powdered changes to a light brown not unlike powderedPeruvian bark. Its taste is strongly but simply astringent. The realkino tree appears however to be the next.530. P. erinaceus Lam. diet. v. 728. illustr. t. 602. f. 4. DC.prodr. ii. 419. Fl. i.senegamb. 229. t. 54. P. AdansoniiDC. 1. c. P. senegalensis] Hooker in Grays trav. in west,afr. 395. t. D. Drepanocarpus senegalensis N. and E. handb.iii. 184. Woods of the Gambia, about Albreda and Isle auxchiens in ;Senegal, near Cacundi. (Wegne of the natives.)A tree 40-50 feet high. Leaves unequally pinnate, smooth above,downy beneath; leaflets 11-15, alternate, distant, on short stalks, ovateoblong,obtuse or emarginate, wavy at the edge ; stipules lanceolate,villous, deciduous. Racemes solitary or clustered, downy, from theold wood, below the young branches, much shorter than the leaves.Flowers yellow. Legume stipitate, compressed, membranous, velvety,sinuated and undulated, prickly on the centre. When the branchesare wounded a red juice flows which hardens upon exposure to the airand becomes a dark-coloured brittle, glittering, astringent substance,the real original gum kino of the shops.531. P. Draco Linn. mant. 438. DC. prodr.ii. 415.P. officinalis Jaeq. amer. 283. 1. 183. f.92. P. hemipterus Gcertn.1. 156. f. 2. Woods of Tierra Bomba near Carthagena, Guadeloupe,c.256