=The Flowers= can be found from November to April and the individual flowers for a long time, almost ripe fruits and new flowers occurring at the same time. They are in leafy racemes of large size. Each has a slender stalk, a long column-like torus, 4 sepals which bend right back and finally fall off, no petals and a number of long white stamens, in the middle of which is the long slender style with the ovary at the tip. The lower part of the calyx is tubular, with the torus inside, and round its mouth is a toothed ring. =The Fruit= forms at the end of the pistil, the sepals having fallen, the calyx tube shrunk and the toothed disc being exposed. It enlarges up to 6 inches in length and is constricted at intervals so that it looks like a string of irregular-sized beads. Sometimes two seeds lie alongside, and there may be as many as 30. The fruit is yellow and finally brown when ripe, and is similar in appearance to that of _Cassia goratensis_, though the restrictions are not so narrow as those of that species. [Illustration] =MAERUA CRASSIFOLIA= Forsk.—_Jiga_. CAPPARIDACEAE. A medium-sized tree from 15-30 feet high and up to 4 feet in girth, which grows in dry localities as far north as 14°. It is quite common in N.E. Sokoto. It has a short bole, up to 12 feet, with ascending branches and can be at once distinguished by its heavily pruned appearance, the lateral branches being very short and resembling _Randia nilotica_, the rosettes of leaves being borne on stunted shoots on long, straight, tough branches. The form varies from the short tree with wide, compact crown to the tall, narrow growth of larger specimens. =The Bark= is dull grey, smooth in young trees and longitudinally scaled in older trees. =The Leaves= are in tufts at the end of short woody shoots and are ¾ inch long and ⅓ inch wide, tapering at the base, with a broad tip, in the shallow cleft of which projects the mid-rib. They are a dull, dark green and limp and leathery in texture. =The Flowers= which appear in February rise from the leaf-bearing shoots on ½ inch stalks. Each has a calyx of 4 sepals, light green, which fall back to the stalk with maturity, some 30 white stamens with green anthers, all rising from a short column, and a long pistil with thickened stigma. There is a faint perfume. =The Fruits= are like those of _Maerua angolensis_; long, jointed pods formed by the growth of the clubbed pistil. They are brown when ripe and break into sections. The seeds are 10-20 in number and ripen about April. [Illustration] =MIMOSA ASPERATA= Linn.—_Gumbi, Kaidaji, Kardaji_. LEGUMINOSAE.