The genus Cynometra affords the fruit known and much esteemed in the eastern Islands
under the name of Nam-nam ( C. c a id iflo ra ) but which is scarcely known in this country,
where, though described as a native plant, 1 suspect it is introduced. It is growing in the spice
gardens of Courtallum but I have never met with it wild. Those I saw are introduced.
C. ramiflora is certainly a native of Ceylon, from which I have been favoured with fine specimens
by Colonel Walker, it seems equally a native of Malabar as it is figured by Rheede.
The last genus of this sub-order to which 1 shall-allude is B a u h in ia , a genus named in
honor of the brothers John and Caspar Bauhin, two celebrated Botanists of the last- century,
and considered by Linnaeus most appropriately' dedicated to them on-account of the two lobed
leaves or more properly two twin leaflets of a compound leaf, partially united, giving them the
appearance of a simple two cleft leaf.
This genus abounds in species, many of them very handsome small trees or large shrubs,
some are scandent. B . malabarica grows to sufficient size to be used as timber tree in Malabar.
B . racemosa ( parvafiora Roxb') a rather common shrub or small tree in India, fields a thick
bark of which matchlock-men make their matches. “ It burns long and slowly without the help
of saltpetre or any other combustible. To prepare the bark it is boiled, dried and beat. Ropes
are also made of the inner rind which is fibrous, strong and durable (Roxb.)” B. F a h lii, W. and
A. {B . racemosa, Vahl. and Roxb. not Lam.) is one of the largest species’6f the genus,-“ the
largest and most extensive creeper I have ever seen” Roxb.—a native of alpine districts.
The leaves are often a foot each way a!nd in the northern districts of the Circars are collected
in quantities great and sold in the bazaars for various purposes, plates, package, &c. The
seeds are eaten raw, when ripe the taste is like that of cashew-nuts. B . a n g u in a is another
extensive creeper remarkable for having its Stem and branches compressed, that is several' inches
broad and not half an inch thick, it is believed by the natives of Silhet to be a charm against
snakes and other venomous reptiles.
Here I conclude my very imperfect sketch of this sub-order remarkable for containing
many both valuable and curious plants.
Sub-order M imoseae.
This is a large sub-order, consisting principally of tropical plants, or, with very few exceptions,
confined to the warmer regions on either side the tropics.
The species are either trees, shrubs or herbaceous plants, the former often armed with spines
or prickles. The leaves arp alternate, abruptly pinnate, or bi or tri-pinnate, the pinnge and leaflets
opposite, often remarkably sensitive, shrinking from the slightest/ touch. Petiols often glan-
duliferous, sometimes becoming dilated and fpliaseous on the abortion of the leaflets.
Flowers regular or nearly so, often polygamous, rarely all bi-sexual; sepals 4 5, equal, often
combined.into a 4 5 toothed calyx : asstivation valvular or very rarely imbricative. Petals 4-5/
equal, usually hypogynous, rarely inserted into the bottom of the calyx, sometimes distinct,
sometimes all more or less united : aestivation valvular or rarely imbricative. Stamens inserted
. with the petals, distinct or monadelphous, as many, or several times as many as the petals.
Embryo straight, the radicle never being bent along the lobes of the cotyledons : cotyledons
usually foliaceous, very rarely enclosed in albumen. Podosperm usually flexuose or t wisted.
This sub-order is very distinct from the two preceding ones, especially in the character of
its flowers, which are here regular, usually approaching to tubular, with valvate aestivation and
generally hypogynous stamens. The legumes are very various in their forms, and afford^excellent
generic characters. In E n ta d a and Mimosa, they are jointed or separate transversely as in
the Hedysareae, in In g a and Aden a n th era they are long and often remarkably contorted
towards maturity, the want of which character, combined with its very thick hard woody valves,
renders questionable the propriety of referring I . X y lo ca rp a to that genus. -The legumes of
Acacia are sufficiently various to afford good specific characters, in most they are linear and
much compressed but in A . arabica, they are remarkably contracted between the seed. A large
proportion of the species of this order are arboreous, but others are minute herbs, and one
Indian species ( Desmanthus nata n s) is almost constantly found floating on water, as its name
implies, br growing on the muddy banks of tanks or ditches.
Considerable variety is also observed in the character of its products. The wood of most
of the arboreous species of Acacia is exceeding hard, close grained and heavy, while that of
P a rkia bi&'andulosa is,,comparatively soft and coarse grained. That of Acacia speciosa is so
intensely hard that it is with difficulty it can be cut with the handsaw. The wood of many is
dark brown or nearly black in the centre. Many of the species yield very pure gum, from
A c a c ia vera and. Arabica, the finest gum arabic is procured. The bark of others is strongly
astringent, some of them yielding the Catechu extract, among these may be mentioned A . f e r -
rugenea, A . catechu, and A . leucocephala. From the bark of all of these, fermented with
jaggery, an inferior kind of arrack is procured by distillation ; they might all be more usefully
employed in tanning leather. The bark of one New Holland species A . melanoxylon is
imported into England in considerable quantities for that purpose. Of this bark in 1831,
there was 39.264 cwt. shipped from Hobart Town for England, and in 1835, the value
of bark exported from the same place, was nearly £12,000. This subject therefore seems to
merit attention in this country where so many species of the genus, having astringent bark,
are indigenous. The bark of some of the species of In g a is also very astringent but do not
seem to be known as such in this country. Here the In g a dulcis or K oorkapilly (see Icon.
PI. Ind. Or. No. 198) is much employed as a fence, under the English name of ‘ white thorn*
though a very different plant.
R emarks on G enera and S pecies. This branch of the subject I regret to say I must
leave nearly untouched, as the space I can now devote to it, is so inadequate to its extent. This
however 1 less regret as a high authority (G. Bentham, Esq.) has declared the exposition of the
Indian portion of the order, in our Prodromus, the most valuable work on Leguminosae that
has appeared since the publication of DeCandolle’s Prodromus. To that therefore I refer for
all we then knew. Some new genera and several species have been added, but as these might
require, properly to elucidate^them. probably little short of a whole number and weeks of laborious
application for their careful determination I must for the present leave them undetermined.
To compensate however so far as I am able for this deficiency, I shall make a point of
devoting several plates in each number of my leones for some time, to the illustration of the
order; in that work a considerable number of species have been already figured, and as the
current number (No. 13) will contain several more, I beg leave to refer to it, contenting myself
for the present, with subjoining the generic character of, one new genus and of E dw a rd sia and
T a v em ie ra , two old genera, but only recently added to the Peninsular flora.
EDWARDSIA, Salisbury.
Sub-order 'Sophore®.
Calyx inflated-cam panul ate, obliquely truncated, obscurely
5-tooth?d. 'Corolla papilionaceous, vixillum
somewhat shorter than the wings, shortly unguiculate,
broadly obovate, emarginate, angled at the base. Wings
oblong, unguiculate, narrow, or scarcely auricled at the
base : keel longer than the wings, obtuse, straight,
somewhat united below, free at the apex. Stamens
free, filaments glabrous, slightly dilated. Ovary shortly
stipitate, linear, with several ovules, Style ,slightly
incurved, glabrous, dilated at the base, attenuated at
the apex. Stigma thin. Legume monilifo.rm, 1-celled,
2-valved, many-seeded, 4-winged. Seed roundish, estro-
phiolaie, radicle somewhat incurved:
Trees or shrubs usually from, the Antarctic regions.
Leaves exstipulate, U7i'q .ally pinnated. many-pained,
the terminal leaflet distant from the last pair. ~ Inflorescence
racemose, racemes axillary, lax, ’ few-flowered.
Pedicels one-flowered, ebractiolate, or with a subulate
bractea.
The essential character of this genus consists in the
longitudinally winged legume, combin 'd with the characters
of the sob-order Sophora. As my spe cimens
have the habit of Sophora and possess the character
taken from the legume well developed, I can have no
doubt of their really belonging to this genus though
not in flower The species I cannot so well determine.
It may be new, but looks as if it might be referred, in
so far as characters taken from the foliage only can be
relied upon, without much violence to either E .n itid a ,
• or E . denudata, but preferably to the last owing to the-
leaves being nearly glabrous.
T a v e rn ie r a D.C.—Tribe Hedysareae.
Calyx bi-bracteolare at the base, 5-Cleft, sub-bilabiate,
segments linear, lanceolate,* acuminate. Corolla papilionaceous,
vixillum, somewhat obovate, wings small,
about half the length of the other petals, keel obtuse,
or obliquely truncated. Stamens 10, diadelphous (9
and 1) straight of indexed. Style filiform, long, flexuose,
deciduous, ovary 2-oviiled: legume flat, consisting of two
l-seeded, joints, the lower joint sometimes abortive,
stipitifonn, thefertileo.neoval, or orbicular, aculiate, or
prickled, the sutures on both sides convex.—Suffruticose
oriental, or Indian plants.
Leaves 1-3 foliolate—Stipules united at the base, flowers
rosy coloured or white, afterwards scariose and sub-persistent.
T. cuneifolia, (Am.) Leaves one foliolate, petioled,
the upper onqs aborting, the leaflet cuniato-obovate, re-
curvedly mucronate, thickish, glabrous or pubescent:
peduncles shori from the axils of leafless stipules,
' bearing towards the apex, from 1 to 4 shortly pedicel-
• late flowers-: The legumes with the inferior joint abortive,
stipitifonn, the superior one unequally obovate,
echinate, with rigicMiooked bristles.—Hedysamm cunei-
folium, Roxb. Onobrychis cuneifolia, D.C.