=The Fruits= are pods 6-9 inches long, hard, flat, dark-brown, straight or contorted into strange shapes, 2 inches broad and ¼-½ inch thick. They are persistent on the tree for many months, a most disfiguring feature, and drop entire, rotting on the ground. They are very liable to attacks from a grub which destroys the seeds. These are small, brown, oval and scattered about in the mealy endocarp which has an objectionable smell. =Uses.=—The wood is used for axe and hoe handles of all sorts. The bark is used for binding and tying but is not plaited or twisted into ropes. Cattle eat the pods. [Illustration] =BAUHINIA RUFESCENS= Lam.—_Jirga, Tsatsagi, Matsagi_. LEGUMINOSAE. A small tree, typically inhabiting annually inundated areas but also flourishing in sandy soils of poor quality. It forms, with its numerous much branched stems, a small thicket of one or more trees; it is difficult to say how many under the circumstances, as one root-stock will produce a number at ground level, forming an impenetrable mass. It can be distinguished readily by the typical leaves of the genus, and the small size of these compared with other species. The fact that it is always in flower and fruit will identify it also. =The Bark= is a light ash-coloured grey, smooth and covered with small, brown horizontal lenticels. Old stems bear at the base small dark scales and the bark is fissured giving it a speckled appearance. The slash is pink and reveals the very fibrous nature of the bark. =The Thorns= are modified twigs whose tips are strongly pointed. They may support leafy shoots or bear leaves themselves and are seen best on the long, slender shoots and drooping twigs. They extend their growth indefinitely, but on the older wood may be seen as bare, woody spines 3 or 4 inches long, curved out and down. =The Wood= is a dull, smoke-brown colour. In transverse section the rings are indistinct dark lines; the pores are numerous and unevenly distributed, single in small groups or in short chains, the rays invisible to the unaided eye but showing as small bands in radial section, which reflect the light. In vertical section the grain is close and there are darker bands of colour. The wood is not hard, is easily sawn and planes to a nice, soft, smooth finish though it picks up in places with the long soft fibres. The weight is 50 lbs. a cubic foot. =The Leaves= are borne spirally round the branches, often in the thorn axils or on the thorns themselves, or on twigs bare of thorns. They are bifoliate, typical of the genus, rarely over an inch long and mostly a ½ inch, the terminal leaf of a new shoot often being much larger. The mid-rib is extended between the leaflets which are divided to the base and there are three main nerves to each leaflet. They are a light, blue-green or grey-green, with a bloom and are partly sensitive, closing up rapidly after being plucked.