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PERKINS — THE LEGUMIKOSAE OF POKTO EICO. 



179 



37. SESBANIA Scop. 



Sesbania Scor. Introd. 308. 1777, 

 Agati Adans. Fam. 2: 32G. 1703. 

 Danvinia Raf. F1, Ludov. lOG. 1817. 



Calyx broadly campanulate, truncate or with noarly equal teeth or lobos; standard 

 ovate or orbicular, spn'adingorreflexed; wingsoblong; kocl incurved, obtuse, orarumi- 

 nate, with a long claw; upp<T stamen Inn^ gonicuhat(^ near the base, the others united 

 in a sh(^atli, angled near the base; anthers unifonnOr the 5 alternate somewhat longer; 

 ovary usually stipitalc with numerous seeds; style with a small terminal capitate 

 stigma; pod long-linear, rarely oblong, compressed, terete or tetragonal, or 4-winged, 

 2-valved or indehiscent, septate; seeds oblong (»r (luadrate. — Herbs or shrubs, rarely 

 arborescent; leaves al^uptly pinnate; leaflets very numerous, entire; stipules cadu- 

 cous; flowers often large, sometimes very large, usually yellow, red, variegated, or 

 white, very rarely a dark purple, in short loose axillary racemes; pedicels slender; 

 bracts and bracteoles setaceous. 



KKY TO THE SrECIES. 



Flowers in short few-flowered racemes. 



Flowers large, white or carmine-red; petals 8 to 9 cm. long; 

 calyx 2 cm. deep; shrub or tree. 



Flowers small, a dull yellow, 1.2 cm. long; calyx 3 mm. long; 



herb. 



Flowers in lax, 4 to 12-fl(nvered racemes. 



Flowers orange-colored or yellow; petals 2.25 cm* long; calyx 



G mm. deep; leaves slightly irritable. 

 Flowers bright yellow; petals 1.25 cm. long; calyx 4 mm. 



deep; leaves not irritable. 



1. Sesbania g^randiflora (L.) Pers.a 



(Urban, 286.) 



1. S. grandifiora 



2. S, sericea. 



3. S, ocddentalis 



4. S. aegyptiaca 



A tall shrub or small tree of very few years^ duration; leaflets 10 to 30-jugate; flowers 

 white or carmine red; legume linear, 30 or more cm. long^ nearly 6.5 mm. wide, com- 

 pressed; seeds separated by spurious dissepiments. 



Cultivated and seemingly spontaneous near Bayamon; nearCabo Rojo; atMayaguez, 

 In a garden. — Cuba (Richard), Jamaica (Grisebach), Haiti, St. Thomas (Eggers), St. 

 Croix, St. John (Eggers), Gaudeloupe, Martinique, St. Vincent. Indigenous perhaps 

 in the East Indies and north Australia. Cultivated in the Tropics everywliere. 



S, grandifiora is most noticeable on account of its large and showy red flowers, which 

 make it one of the most beautiful of the Papilionatae. In India the root, bark, flowers, 

 and the juice of the leaves are used medicinally, wliih* the natives eat the tender 

 leaves, pods, and flowers as a vegetable and in curries. Cattle also eat the leaves and 

 tender shoots. The wood is white, soft, and not durabhs is. however, used iii Bengal 

 for posts of nativ^^ houses and for fir(^wood, and as a support for the pepper vine. This 

 species yields a gum resembling kino, of a garnet r(Hl color Avhen fresh, but becoming 

 almost black l>y exposure to the air. 



Local names, gallUn, bdailo, cresla de gallo. 



2. Sesbania sericea (Willd.) DC. 



(Urban, 286.) 



Plant 1 to 3 meters high; stem suffrutescent, unarmed, cylindrical, pubescent; 

 leaflets 12 to 20-jugate, oblong-linearj LG to 2.4 cm. long, 4 to 6 mm. broad, blunt or 



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ccCook and Collins, p. G8, as Agati grandifiora. 



