Schotia
(named in honour of Richard Van der Schot, a travelling companion and friend of Jacquin; he died in 1819). Kaffir Bean-tree. ORD. Leguminosae. A genus comprising four species of greenhouse, unarmed shrubs or small trees, confined to Southern and Subtropical Africa. Flowers crimson, pink, or flesh-coloured, showy, panicled; calyx segments four, closely imbricated; petals five, nearly equal, sub-sessile, imbricated; stamens ten, free or very shortly connate at base; bracts and bracteoles ovate or oblong, highly caducous. Pods oblong or broadly linear, often falcate, flat-compressed. Leaves abruptly pinnate; leaflets coriaceous or small; stipules short. The species, the best-known of which are described below, are very handsome subjects when in flower. They require similar treatment to Schmidelia (which see).
S. latifolia (broad-leaved). Elephant Hedge Bean-tree. fl. rose or flesh-colour, sub-sessile, in excessively branched, axillary and terminal panicles; petals longer than the calyx. June. fr., pods 1 1/2in. to 4in. long, edible when roasted. l. two to four-jugate; leaflets variable in shape, 1 1/2in. to 2in. long, 1/2in. to 1in. broad, rigid and thick. h. 20ft. to 30ft. 1815. Tree. (H.E.F.159.) S. speciosa (showy). fl. crimson. pedicellate; petals much longer than the calyx; panicles terminal, fasciculate-corymbose, many-flowered. Summer. l. polymorphous, four to sixteen-jugate; leaflets variable in shape, pubescent or glabrous. h. 8ft. to 12ft. 1759. A large shrub or small tree. S. tamarindifolia (Tamarind-leaved). l. leaflets eight to ten pairs, linear-oblong, oblong, or elliptic, mucronate or obtuse, unequal, sub-truncate or rounded at base, four to five lines long. 1795. (B.M. 1153; A. B. R. 348, under name of S. speciosa.)