180 



COKTRTBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 



retuse-jiiucronulate, irritable; racemea shortj few-flowered, 4 times or more exceeded by 

 the leaves; flowers 1.2 cm, long, of a dull yellow; calyx one-third as lor.^^ as the corolla; 

 teeth subulate; standard dotted with purple; legume 20 to 25 cm, long, compressed, 

 at length biconvex, not torulose, shortly beaked, slightly depressedj tumid on both 

 margins. 



Near Guanica in the water of tlie lagoon ; near Mayaguez, along roads in coast districts 

 near Algarrobo and around the fortress; near Anasco in moist meadows at itatillo. — 

 Bahama, Jamaica, Haiti, St. Thomas, Antigua (Griscbach), Guadeloupe, Martinique. 



3. Sesbania occidentalis (AVilld.) Pers. 



(Urban, 2m.) 



Underahrub, stem angular, suffrutescent or shrubby, 2 to 3 meters liigh; h^aflets 12 

 to 20-jugate, slightly irritable; flowers yellow or orange-colored, with red lines, the 

 standard dotted with purple; legume 20 to 25 cm. long, 5 to 6 mm. wide, compressed, 

 at length biconvex; seeds separated by spurious dissepiments. 



Near Ponce in ditches and in moist localities; near Guanica, in the water of the bay 

 opposite La Plata; near Cabo Rojo around the hacienda Carmelita; near Mayaguez, 

 on the sides of ditches in Cuesta de las Piedras.— Cuba, Haiti, Trinidad (Grisebach), 

 Indigenous in the West Indies. 



Although the difference in the size of the leaves and the form of the leaflets between 

 Sesbania ocddentalis and S. grandiflora is very slight, the difference in the size of the 

 flow(Ts is very noticeable, those of S. grandiflora being at least 5 times as large as those 

 of S. occidentalis. 



Local name, sesbania. 



4. Sesbania aegyptiaca Pers 



(Urban, 286.) 



An erect, copiously branched, pale green glabrous shrub, 1.5 to 2,5 meters, even 3 



meters high; leaves nearly sessile, the unarmed rachis on the upper ones 5 to 10 cm. 



long; leaflets 10 to 20-jugate, glabrous, glaucous green, reaching 2.5 cm. in length, 4 



mm. broad, blunt with a faint mucro; peduncles 2.5 to 5 cm. long; racemes lax, G to 



12-flowered; pedicels spreading, 0.4 to 0.8 cm. long; calyx 0.4 cm. long, glabrous, the 



teeth very short, deltoid-cuspidate; corolla bright yellow, 1.25 cm. long, the round 



emarginate standard 1.25 cm. broad, more or less dotted with purple; pod 15 to 20 cm. 



long, 3 to 4 mm. thick, distinctly torulose, 20 to 30-seeded, the valves rounded on the 

 back . 



Near Coamo between Serillos and Salinas. — Cuba, Jamaica (Grisebach). South- 

 eastern North America, warmer regions of Africa, tropical Asia, and North Australia. 



The wood of this plant is soft and fibrous but rather clovse-grainedj the weight 75 

 pounds to the cubic* foot. In the Deccan, Sesbania aegypfiaca, is grown to furnish polios 

 as a substitute for bamboo, and it is often utilized wliile growing to shade and support 

 the pepper vines an<l various cucurbit.ac<^ous plants. In Assam the soft, pithy stems are 

 platted into mats, portions of them being dyed black before being matlcnl so as to work 

 out a bold pattern. It is, in Bengal, in common use as a hedge plant, for which purpose 

 its very quick growth renders it suitable. The bark is made into rope, according to 

 Prandis. Seeds, root, juice of the bark, leaves, and flowers are used medicinally* 

 The leaves and young branches are cut for fodder. 



38. PICTETIA DC. 



Pictetia DC. Bil)l. Univ. Geneve 29: 40, 1825. 



Calyx with un(^qual slender lobes, the two upper ones short and (jbtuse, the three 

 lower longer and acuminate; petals shortly unguiculate; standard suborbicular; 



