Flora Medica

FABACE^E, OR LEGUMINOS-.Tribe III.MIMOSE^E.ACACIA.Flowers polygamous, bisexual, and male. Calyx 4-5-toothed.Petals 4-5 either distinct, or united into a gamopetalous 4-5-cleft corolla. Stamens various in number (8-200). Legumecontinuous, dry, 2-valved. Seeds without pulp. Shrubs ortrees, unarmed, or armed with stipulary thorns or scatteredprickles. Leaves pinnated or bipinnated; sometimes absent andrepresented by dilated petioles or phyllodia. Flowers yellow,white, or rarely red, in globular heads or longish spikes.555. A. gummifera Willd. iv. 1056. DC. prodr.ii. 455.Sassa gummifera Gmel. syst. Africa about Mogador.Smooth. Leaflets on 2 pinnae,in about 6 pairs, linear, obtuse, witha sessile gland between the pinnae ; spines stipulary, straight. Spikesoblong, axillary. Legume somewhat moniliform, white with down.It is by no means certain that the Sassa Gum, mentioned under Ingasassa, No 569, is not produced by this plant. Mr. Pereira refersBarbary Gum to it.556. A. ferruginea DC. prodr.ii. 458. W. and A. i. 273.Mimosa ferruginea Roxb. fl.ind. ii. 561. Mountainous partsof India.Thorns stipulary, recurved, strong, short and very sharp, sometimesabsent. Leaves bipinnate, from 2 to 3 inches long ; pinnae from 3 to 6pair, opposite, 1 or 1J inch long; leaflets from 8 to 12 pair, linearoblong,smooth, small ; petioles now and then armed with a few smallprickles on the under side, Spikes axillary and terminal, erect, cylindrical,stalked, pale yellow. Filaments many, monadelphous. Legumesmembranous, rust-coloured, about 6 inches long and 1 broad. Seedsfrom 5 to 7. Bark strongly astringent ;added to jagghery water inIndia it forms an intoxicating liquor.557. A. Catechu Willd. iv. 1079. DC. prodr.ii. 458. S.and C. ii. t. 76. i.Macfady. fl. jam. 314. W. and A. i. 272.A polyacantha Willd. 1. c. DC. 459. A. Wallichiana DC.458. Mimosa Catechu Linn, suppl. 439. Woodv. t. 66. Roxb.fl. ind. ii. 563. Cor. ii.plants, t. 175. M. Catechuoides Roxb.fl. ind. ii. 562. mon in Jamaica.Various parts of the East Indies, now com-A tree, 15-20 feet high branches ;spreading, armed with strong blackstipulary spines, downy towards their extremities. Leaves bipinnate ;pinnii: 10-17 pairsleaflets 30-50 pairs, linear, bluntish, unequal and;auricled on the lower side at the base, ciliated ; petiole angular, channelledabove, downy, with 1 orbicular urceolate green gland below thelowest pair, and smaller ones between each of the 2, 3, or 4 terminalpairs of pinnae. Spikes 1-2 axillary, together, on cylindrical, downystalks. Flowers numerous, white, sessile. Calyx externally downy,5-fid ;teeth erect. Corolla rather longer than the calyx, 5-fid, glabrous,twice the length of the corolla, very numerous, distinct.268