Flora Medica

FABACEJE, OR LEGUMINOS^.and axillary, erect ;branches subdivided, spreading, angular, brownishpurple, covered with ferruginous down ; pedicels very short, 1-flowered,numerous, crowded. Flowers reddish-lilac. Calyx turbinate-campanulate,covered with ferruginous down. Standard and wings unguiculatekeel ; composed of 2 petals, smaller than the standard. Stamenspurple. Ovary stipitate : style subulate, curved :stigma simple. Legumesize of a large plum. Bark anthelmintic ; it has a disagreeablesmell and a sweet mucilaginous taste. Its effects are drastic, emetic,purgative and narcotic ; poisonous in large doses, producing violentvomiting with fever and delirium.534. A. retusa HBK. and DC. 1. c. from Cayenne, has similarproperties.CASSIA.Sepals 5, combined at the base, more or less unequal. Petals5, more or less unequal. Stamens 10, distinct ; the 3 upperrarely fertile, usually with anthers of a different shape from theothers and abortive ;very rarely only 47, and all fertile : anthersdehiscing at the apex by 2 pores or clefts.Ovary stalked.Legume compressed, many-seeded. Trees, shrubs, or herbaceousplants. Leaves simply and abruptly pinnated; leafletsopposite.Petioles often bearing glands.535. C. elongata Lemaire Lisanc. Journ. pharm.vii. 345.C. lanceolata Royle illustr. t. 37. W. and A. i. 288. Wallichin Madras Journ, Ap. 1837. p. 354. Interior of India Roxb. ;perhaps only naturalised, W. and A.An annual, but with care, itmay be made to live through the year,and to assume a suffruticose habit. Stem erect, smooth. Leavesnarrow, equally pinnated; leaflets 48 pairs, lanceolate, nearly sessile,slightly mucronulate, smooth above, rather downy beneath, with theveins turning inwards and forming a flexuose intramarginal line ;petioles without glands ; stipules softly spinescent, semihastate, spreading,minute. Racemes axillary and terminal, erect, stalked, ratherlonger than the leaves ; pedicels without bracts. Sepals linear, obtuse.Petals bright yellow. Of the stamens the 5 lowest sterile and small,the 2 next large, curved and perfect, the 3 uppermost minute andgland-like. Ovary linear, downy, falcate, with a smooth recurved style.Legumes pendulous, oblong, membranous, about 1 inch long, and f-broad, quite straight, tapering abruptly to the base, and rounded at theapex, deep brown, many-seeded. The dried leaves form the finestsenna of commerce, known by the name of Tinnevelly senna. In thegreat uncertainty that exists concerning the species from which theacute-leaved sennas are obtained, I take this as the type, partly becauseI happen to have pretty good specimens for description, and partlybecause it is possibly the same as the common acute-leaved senna ofAlexandria, altered by climate. I cannot think it the C. lanceolata ofForskahl, because it wants the gland upon the petiole of that species, acharacter of great importance in this genus. It is more probable thatthis is the " Senna Meccae Lohaiae foliis 5-7-jugis lineari-lanceolatis"of Forskahl; which if so will account for its having been raised inIndia from Mecca senna seeds.258