Butea
(commemorative of John, Earl of Bute, once a munificent patron of botany). ORD Leguminosae. A genus of very ornamental stove evergreen unarmed trees. Racemes many-flowered; flowers three together, on short pedicels, and furnished with two bracteoles each, under the calyx; corolla deep scarlet; down on the calyces usually black and velvety. Leaves pinnately-trifoliolate; leaflets large, ovate, roundish, stipellate. For culture, &c., see Erythrina. B. frondosa (leafy). fl. 2in. long. l., leaflets roundish, obtuse, or emarginated, rather velvety beneath. Branches pubescent. h. 40ft. India, 1796. (B. F. S. 176.) B. superba (superb).* l., leaflets roundish, obtuse, velvety beneath. Branches glabrous. Coromandel, 1798. This approaches the preceding species, from which it differs mainly by its scandent habit, and not by any botanical characters. (B.F.F. 143.)