Bauhinia
(in honour of John and Caspar Bauhin, two famous botanists of the sixteenth century). Mountain Ebony. ORD. Leguminosae. Very showy stove evergreen shrubs. Flowers racemose; petals five, spreading, oblong, rather unequal, upper one usually distant from the rest. Leaves two-lobed, constantly composed of two jointed leaflets at the top of the petiole, sometimes nearly free, but usually joined together, more or less, and with an awn in the recess. They succeed well in a mixture of sand, loam, and peat, requiring good drainage and moderately firm potting. Propagated by cuttings, which should be taken when the wood is neither very ripe nor very young; the leaves must be dressed off, and the cuttings planted in sand, under a glass, in moist heat. Although glorious objects in the tropics, few of the species flower under our comparatively sunless skies; those which hitherto have succeeded well in Britain are marked with an asterisk.
B. acuminata (taper-pointed-leaved). fl. pure white; petals broadly ovate, hardly stipitate. June. l. rather cordate at the base, smoothish; leaflets connected beyond the middle, ovate, acuminated, parallel, four-nerved. h. 5ft. to 6ft. Malabar, 1808.
B. aurita (eared). fl. white; petals ovate, on short stipes. August. l. glabrous, cordate at the base; leaflets connected the fourth part of their length, oblong-lanceolate, nearly parallel, six to eight-nerved. h. 4ft. to 6ft. Jamaica, 1756.
B. corymbosa (corymbose).*fl. in loose racemes; petals pinkish, regular, crenulated at the edge. Summer. l., leaflets semi-oval, obtuse, parallel, connected nearly to the middle, three-nerved, cordate at the base, the nerves on the under surface, as well as the petioles, branches, and calyces, clothed with rufous villi. Shrubby climber. India, 1818. (G. C. 1881, xvi., p. 204.) B. inermis (unarmed). fl. white; petals linear; racemes terminal, leafless, simple. l. ovate at the base, ferruginous beneath; leaflets oblong, acute, four-nerved, parallel, connected a little beyond the middle. h. 6ft. to 8ft. Mexico, 1810.
B. multinerva (many-nerved). fl. snow-white; petals linear. Legume 8in. to 12in. long. l. elliptic, rounded at the base, membranous, shining above, rather pilose beneath; nerves ferruginous; leaflets semi-ovate, obtuse, approximate, five-nerved; free. h. 20ft. Caraccas, 1817. B. natalensis (Natal).*fl. white, 1 1/2in. across, opposite the leaves. September. l. small, alternate, of two obliquely-oblong rounded leaflets. Natal, 1870. (B. M. 6086.) B. petiolata (long-petioled). fl. white, 3in. long, in terminal clusters. Autumn. l. stalked, ovate-acuminate, five-nerved, glabrous. Columbia, 1862. SYN. Casparia speciosa. (B. M. 6277.) B. pubescens (downy). fl. white, large, much crowded; petals obovate; peduncles three to four-flowered. l. rather cordate at the base, pubescent beneath and on the petioles; leaflets connected beyond the middle, oval, obtuse, four-nerved, nearly parallel. h. 4ft. to 6ft. Jamaica, 1823. B. purpurea (purple). fl., petals red, one of them streaked with white on the claw, lanceolate, acute. Legume linear, 1ft. long. l. cordate at the base, coriaceous, ultimately glabrous; leaflets connected much above the middle, broadly ovate, obtuse, four-nerved; free. h. 6ft. India, 1778. B. racemosa (racemose). fl. white; petals obovate, obtuse; raceme somewhat corymbose. l. cordate at the base, clothed with silky villi beneath, as well as on the peduncles, petioles, branches, calyces, and petals; leaflets broadly ovate, obtuse, connected to the middle, five-nerved. India, 1790. Shrubby climber. (B. F. S. 182.) B. tomentosa (tomentose). fl., petals pale yellow, with a red spot at the claw, obovate, obtuse; peduncles one to three-flowered. l. ovate or roundish at the base; under surface villous, as well as the petioles, branches, stipules, peduncles, bracts, and calyces; leaflets connected beyond the middle, oval, obtuse, three to fournerved. h. 6ft. to 12ft. Ceylon, 1808. B. variegata (variegated).*fl. red, marked with white, and yellow at the base, in loose terminal racemes; petals ovate, nearly sessile. June. l. cordate at the base, glabrous; leaflets broadly-ovate, obtuse, five-nerved, connected beyond the middle; free. h. 20ft. Malabar, 1690.
B. v. chinensis (Chinese). fl., petals lilac, with one purple spot at the base of each, acute. l. rounded at the base. China.