DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE, 321 
type of anew genus dedicated to Don José de Medinilla y Pineda,@ who was gov- 
ernor of the Marianne Islands at the time of Freycinet’s visit. Somewhat diagram- 
matic figures of the plant, flower, and fruit are given in plate 106 of the atlas of the 
Botany. The species is recorded by Hooker in his Flora of British India as occurring 
in Malacea, and is recognized by Naudin in his monograph of the Melastomaceae. ? 
REFERENCES: 
Medinilla rosea Gaudich, Bot. Freye. Voy. 484. 6. 106. 1826, 
Melastoma medinillana is merely mentioned by Gaudichaud in the text and not 
properly published. The specific part of the name is therefore not recognized as 
having place priority. 
Meibomia gangetica. TICK-TREFOILL, 
Family Fabaceae. 
LocaAL NAMEsS.—Atis-aniti (Gruam); Mankit (Philippines); Salpani:( Bengal). 
A suberect weed, 90 to 120 cm. high; stems woody, slightly angular, upwardly 
clothed with short gray down; leaves I-foliolate, the leaflet oblong, entire, glabres- 
cent on the upper surface, thinly clothed beneath with appressed hairs, membranous 
or subcoriaceous, 7.5 to 15 cm. long and one-third to one-half as broad, rounded. at 
the base, narrowed gradually upward to an acute point; stipules distinet; petiole 
12 to 24 mm. long; flowers small, in long ascending, lateral and terminal racemes, 
purple or yellowish white; calyx less than 2.5 mim. long, campanulate, finely downy, 
the teeth lanceolate; corolla 8 to 3.5 mm. long; standard broad, wings adhering to 
the keel; upperstamen free, the other 9 stamens united; pod subsessile, compressed, 
6 to 8-jointed, 12 to Simm. long, glabrescent or clothed with minute hooked hairs. 
Common on the island of Guam; probably introduced. The vernacular name, sig- 
nifying ‘‘deyil’s sweet-sop,’’ is probably given it on account of the similarity of its 
leaves to those of the ‘‘atis’? (.tanona squamosa), This shrub is one of the most 
highly prized of the medicinal plants of India. It is one of the ten roots (dasha 
mula) of the Hindu Materia Medica. It is regarded as a febrifuge and anticatarrhal. 
It is of very wide tropical distribution. 
REFERENCES: 
Meihomia gangetica (1...) Kuntze, Rey. Gen, 1: 196. 1s9.. 
Hedysaruin gangetiown La. Sp. Pl. 2: 746. 1753. 
Desmodium gangeticum DC. Prod. 2: 327. 1825, 
Meibomia triflora. CREEPING TICK-TREFOLL. 
LocaL NAMES.—Agsom, Apson (Guam); Pakpak lafigao (Philippines ). 
A small, much-branched, slender creeping or trailing plant, often not more than 
dem. long, with trifoliolate leaves and small pink flowers arranged 2 or 3 together 
opposite the leaves. Stems clothed with fine spreading hairs; leaves small, with 
lanceolate stipules; petiole 3 to 6 mm. long; leaflets obovate, 5 to 12 mim. long, tran- 
cate or emarginate, with a few appressed hairs below; calyx pubescent, teeth very 
long, inclosing the corolla; pod sessile, 8 to 12mm, long, 5 mm, broad, 3 to 6-jointed, 
the upper suture straight, the lower slightly indented. 
A plant widely distributed in the Tropics, It is good for forage, taking the place 
of clover and alfalfa, and will grow in all kinds of soil and situations. The leaves 
are sometimes made into poultices and applied to abscesses and wounds. In Guam 
it grows in waste places and in abandoned fields, often forming a fine thick turt. 
Sometimes improperly called ‘ agsom,’’ which see. 
REFERENCES: 
Methomia triflora (L.) Kuntze, Rey. Gen. 1: 197. 1891. 
Hedysavum triflormm La. Sp. Pl. 2: 749. 1753. 
Desinodium triflormm DC. Prod. 2: 334. 1825, 
«Tfommage de reconnoissance & D, José de Medinilla y Pineda, gouverneur des 
iles Mariannes, qui nous a prodigué les soins et les secours les plus empressés.”’ 
(Gaudichaud, Freye. Voy. Bot., pp. 484-485, 1826. ) 
b Ann. Sci. Nat. ser. 5, vol. 15, p. 286, 1849. 
9773—05 21 
