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PEIIKINS— THE LEGUMIXOSAE OF POKXO EICO. 



205 



1. Mucuna urens (L.) DO, 



(Url)an, 803.) 



Stem woody, slendor, wide climbing; leaQets 7.5 to 12.5 cm. long, 7.5 to 8 cm. wide, 

 calyx broadly cam])anubite, 1.5 to 2 cm. deep; corolla with wings and keel 5 cm. or 

 more long, standard much shorter; pod 10 to 20 cm, long, 3.5 to 4 (tm. wide, armed 

 with f^tinging bristles. 



Near Lares in the coffee plantations at Juncal; near Alayaguez; near Agiia<la, in 

 tlnckets at Rosario.— Cuba (Richard), Jamaica, Cayman (Fawcett), Haiti, Guade- 

 loupe, Martinique, Tobago. Tropical America, tropical West Africa. 



Mucuna urens is readily distinguished from if. prvriens by its yellow flowers and 

 its long pod (over 20 cm.) which Ivan cdose, broad, irregular, coriaceous, unclulate lamel- 

 laLions, The seeds are very large and have a broad black band. "W^en i)olished 

 they are often used for ornaments. 



The Mucuna species can be rccolmnc^Tided in the Tropics as ornamental plants, but 

 M. nrens and M, pmriem must be touched with care on account of the hairs of the 

 pftds, wliich have a mo^t irritating effect upon the skin. 



Local names, ojo de hxiey, malos, matos del vionie. 



2. Mucuna pruriens (L.) DC, 



{Urbiin, 30;j-) 

 Stems herbaceous, wide-climbing; h-aflets 8 to 14 cm. long, 5 to 7 cm. wide; flowers 



dark violet; calyx about 1 cm. deep; corolla 3 to 3.5 cm. deep, the standard half as h)ng 

 as the wdngs; pod 5 to 8 cm. long, L5 to 1.75 cm. wdde, densely clothed with brown 

 silky bristles. 



Near Aguas Buenas on the brook near llu; town; near Juncos, at Valen/iano Arriba 

 climbing on high trees; near Guayanui, in mountain woods beyond Guamani; near 

 C(.amo, in the valley of El Fuerte River; near Penuelas, on the bank of the river 

 toward Tallaboa AUa; lu^ar Cabo Rojo in thickets; near Mayaguez, at Algarrubu; near 

 Rincon in thickets on the shore. Cuba (Grisebach), Jamaica, Cayman (Hitchcock), 

 Haiti, St, Thomas (Eggers), St. Croix (do.), St. John (do.), Guadeloupe, Martinique, 

 St. Vincent, Grenada, Tobago. Cosmopolitan in tht; Tropics. 



Mvarjia pruriem differs markedly from M, urens in that it has purple flowers and a 

 much smallcT, longitudinally ribbed pod. 



The root and the seeds have long been valued in East Indian medicine, and in the 

 A\'est Indies and in Europe the hairs were formerly considerably used medicinally. 

 The young tender ])oils are cooked and eaten as a vegetable. 



Local name, pica-pica (Urban); c<*wliage or cowitch (Cook and Collins). 



3. Mucuna altissima (Jac<|.) DC. 



(Urban, 304.) 



Twining; leaflets glabrous, ovat(^ or (»val-(»l>loTig, 7.5 to 12.5 cm. long, 2.5 to 6 cm. 

 wnde, membranous; petiole slend(T, 7.5 to 12.5 cm. long; peduncle 30 to 120 cm. long, 

 racemes short; calyx sericeous, 4-toolhed; the three superior teeth small or obso- 

 lete, the inferi(;r longer; flowers chirk violet or pale tlcsh-colored; corolla 3.G cm. long; 

 sti;ndard ovate-oblong, nearly as long as the wings; Ix^ak of the keel cartilaginous^ 

 bluntish, equaling the wings; legume 15 cm. long, 3.7 cm. broad l)el<nv its pointed top, 

 with numerous, transverse, convex limns, compress(Ml, spathulate, oblong, hirsute, 

 callous on the nuu-gins; seeds orbicular, compressed (l.G to 2 cm. in diameter), almost 

 wholly surrounded by the raphe. 



