Flora Medica

C^ESALPINIA.A climbing plant,if itgrows among trees. Stem unarmed, notthicker than the arm, even at the base. Pinnae 3-4 pairs;leaflets 2-3pairs, ovate, acute ; their petioles and back ribs all over prickly.Flowers yellow in racemose panicles. Standard with a few red spots.Legumes roundish, oblong, mucronate. Seeds 1-2, flat, black, 4-cornered.A decoction of the roots used, according to Rumphin calculousand nephritic complaints.GU1LANDINA.Sepals 5, nearly equal, combined at the base into a short urceolatetube. Petals 5, sessile, nearly equal. Stamens 10, distinct: filaments villous at the base. Style short. Legumeovate, ventricose-compressed, 2-valved, 1-2-seeded, covered withstraight prickles. Seeds bony, shining, nearly globose. Treesor shrubs with hooked prickles on the stem and petioles. Leavesabruptly bipinnated. Flowers spicately racemose. Bracteaselongated. W. and A.54-7. G. Bonduc Linn. sp. 545. DC. ii. prodr. 480. W.and A. i. 280. G. Bonduccella Linn. 1. c. Caesalpinia BonducellaFlem. in As. res. ii. 159. Roxb. fl.ind. ii. 357.ii. t. 22. Rumph. v. t. 48, 49. i.)Both East and f.(RheedeWest Indies.(Nicker tree.)A climbing plant, armed with many sharp, small, recurved prickles.Leaves bipinnate ; pinnae 7 pairs; leaflets 3-8 pairs, ovate oblong, moreor less downy, with 1-2 small recurved prickles between them on theunderside; stipules large pinnatifid. Bracts lanceolate, reflexed.Racemes simple, above the axils. Legumes prickly, 2-seeded. Theseeds in powder are a powerful tonic.POINCIANA.Sepals 5, equal or unequal; united below into a cup -shapedsomewhat persistentbase. Petals 5, stipulate the ;upper oneshaped differently from the others. Stamens 10, distinct, muchlonger than the petals, all fertile, filaments ascending and kairyat the base. Style very long. Legume unarmed, flat-compressed,wingless, 2-valved, several-seeded, intercepted internallybetween the seeds. Seeds obovate, compressed. Cotyledonsflat. Shrubs or trees, pricklyor unarmed. Leaves abruptlybipinnated. Flowers large and very elegant, corymbosely panicled.W. and A.548. P. pulcherrima Linn. sp. 554. DC. prodr.ii. 484.W. and A, i. 282. Caesalpinia pulcherrima Swartz obs. 165.(Rheede vi. t. 1.) East Indies, whence it was carried to theWest Indies. (Barbadoes Flower fence.)Shrubby, armed, quite smooth. Leaflets obovate-oblong, retuse oremarginate. Flower-buds obovate, obtuse. Calyx smooth on bothsides; sepals obtuse, unequal, the lower one arched; aestivation imbricative.Petals fringed, bright orange, very large and long, on long claws. Ovary263 s 4