Peltophorum
(from pelte, a small shield, and phoreo, to bear; in reference to the shape of the stigma). ORD. Leguminosae. A genus of about half-a-dozen species of tall, unarmed, stove trees, of which two or three are tropical American, one is found in South-eastern Africa, and two in the Indian Archipelago and tropical Australia. Flowers yellow, racemose; calyx segments five, imbricated; petals five, orbicular, spreading, much-imbricated; racemes paniculate, at the tips of the branches. Pods oblong-lanceolate, rarely elongated, flat-compressed, indehiscent. Leaves bipinnate; leaflets small, numerous. P. Linnaei is described in this work as Caesalpinia brasiliensis.