Flora Medica

PTEROCARPUS.A tree 30 feet high. Leaflets alternate, shining, about 5 on eachside and an odd one, oval, rather obtuse, entire, veined, smooth, palegreen below ;petioles rather shaggy. Legumes nearly smooth. Barkwhen wounded yields drops of red juice which soon harden into crimsontears; these are collected under the name of Dragon's Blood, butJacquin states that, although large quantities were once exported fromCarthagena to Spain, yet when he was in the former place (middle ofthe last century) the commerce had almost ceased.532. P. santalinus Linn.f. suppl. 318. Willd. iii. 906. DC.ii.prodr. 419. W. and A. i. 266. Mountains of Coromandeland Ceylon.A lofty tree. Leaves alternate, stalked, ternate, rarely pinnate;leaflets alternate, petiolate, the uppermost larger, ovate-roundish, oroblong, entire, emarginate or retuse, smooth above, hoary beneath;stipules 0. Racemes axillary, simple or branched, erect. Bracts 0.Calyx brown. Standard yellow with red veins. Filaments 10, diadelphous.Legume roundish, stalked, falcate upwards, compressed,smooth, keeled on the lower edge: the keel being membranous andundulated. From this is obtained Red Sandal wood, a timber chieflyused by the dyers and colour manufacturers of the present day ;butalso employed to colour several officinal preparations, such as the compoundtincture of Lavender.Tribe II.Nat.syst. ed. 2. p. 153.ANDIRA.Calyx turbinate-campanulate, 5-toothed; the teeth nearlyequal, acute, erect. Corolla papilionaceous, with a roundishemarginate vexillum longer than the carina. Stamens diadelphous.Ovary containing 3 ovules. Legume stipitate, roundish,hard, 1-celled, 1-seeded, when ripe 2-valved according to Swartz.DC.533. A. inermis HBK. DC. prodr.ii. 475. Macfady.fi.jam.i. 323. Geoffraea inermis Swartz Jt.ind. occ. 1255. Wrightphil trans. 1777. 512. t. 70. Woodv. 1. 1 12. 8. and C. iii. 1. 144.Guayana and many of the West India Islands.A tree of moderate height ;branches suberect at their extremitiesterete, glabrous, ash-coloured. Leaves alternate, about 1 foot in length,unequally pinnate leaflets ; 5-8-paired, on short roundish ferruginousdowny stalks, oblong-lanceolate, rarely ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, forthe most part rounded at the base, entire, glabrous, thin, with thenerves scarcely prominent, about 4| inches long, and 1 broad ; petiolesminutely downy. Stipules lanceolate, persistent. Panicles terminal,257 s