PLATE DLXVII. CERATONIA SILIQUA. _Pod-bearing Ceratonia._ CLASS XXIII. ORDER II. _POLYGAMIA DIŒCIA._ Many Nuptials on separate Plants. GENERIC CHARACTER. HERMAPH. Calyx 5-partitus. Corolla 0. Stamina 5-8. Stylus filiformis. Stigma capitatum. Legumen coriaceum, pulpâ plenum, polyspermum. HERMAPH. Empalement 5-parted. Blossom none. Chives 5 to 8. Shaft thread-shaped. Summit headed. Pod leathery, full of pulp, and many-seeded. REFERENCE TO THE PLATE. 1. A flower shown from the outside. 2. A dry pod a little opened, one seed detached. * * * * * Instead of a new plant, we here submit to our readers one that according to the Kew Catalogue has been an inhabitant of our gardens 239 years: but neither Mr. Alton nor Mr. Miller had ever seen it blossom, nor during all this long period have we any account of its flowering in this country. Its male flowers however appeared in the Cambridge Botanic Garden the beginning of last February, and from a specimen communicated by Mr. Donn to A. B. Lambert, esq. the present drawing was taken. Mr. Donn’s plant was between 4 and 5 feet high, moderately branched, and had the same treatment as his other green-house shrubs. We are uncertain whether the hermaphrodite or female plant be yet in this country; but as the propagation is principally from seed, we think it is very probable. The stamens in our specimen vary in number, being commonly 5, sometimes 6, and more rarely 8. The fruit is added from a dried legume in the Lambertian collection, which was sent from Spain by the late Abbé Cavanilles, who in his _Icones Plantarum_, _vol._ 2. _p._ 8. and _tab._ 113. (in addition to what was formerly known of the Ceratonia) informs us, that it grows spontaneously on little hills and dry fields in Valencia, and is yet more impatient of cold and moisture than the olive, vast numbers being sometimes killed there by the frost in severe winters. It is in this province also, that the principal cultivation of this useful plant in Spain is situated. The propagation is from seeds, and the diœcious plants are always selected in preference to the hermaphrodites, being better bearers. Some of the more skilful cultivators engraft a male bough upon their female plants for their impregnation, and by this means have no sterile plants in their collections. They flower twice a year, first in February, and again more plentifully in August and September; which is also the time of the fruit’s ripening, and the trees are seen at the same time adorned with blossoms, and laden with ripe fruit. Eighty pounds of legumes are sometimes collected from a single tree. They are known to be mature by their putting on a chesnut colour, and are then beaten from the trees by canes of the _Arundo Donax_ from 16 to 20 feet long, with part of their crooked roots left, which serve as hooks. Rain is said to be beneficial