T 



PEKKTNS TFTK LEGUMINOSAE OF PORTO KICO. 219 



1. Pachyrhizus erosus (L.) Urb." 



(Urban, 311.) 



Rout a tuber like a turnip- stems perennial, firm, wide-twining, Bubgbibrous; 

 stipules small, linear or lanceolate; petioles firm, 5 to 15 cm. long; leaflets roundish, 

 usually more or leas rlu)mboidal, often sinuate-lubute, 10 to 15 cm, each way, both 

 pides glabrous or the lower with thinly adpressed gray-silky hairs when young; 

 flowers in ample racemes 10 to 15 cm. long, on firm })(nluncles often (equaling them; 

 pedicels 4 to G mm. long; calyx G.5 to 8.5 mm. deep, j^Uky, the teeth reaching about 

 halfway down; corolla blue, 2.5 cm. d(H^p or more; pod 15 to 22.5 cm. long, 17 to 

 19.5 mm. wide, glabrescent, subcompressed, distinctly constricted vertically, 1) to 

 12-seeded; seeds compressed-roundish. 



Near Bayamon; near Las Pit^lras; near Aguada, in mountain woods at Rio Grande; 

 n<\ir Aguadilla on mountain slopes. — Cuba (Grisebach), Haiti, St. Thomas, Guade- 

 loupe, Dominica (Grisebach), Marlini(iue, St. Vincent (Kew Bull, no* 81, p. 247), 

 Bequia. Native country not clearly known. 



This plant is not only widely distributed in the tropics of Asia and AjiK^ica, but 

 is often cultivated on account of its tuberous root, which resembles a turnip, and is 



eaten raw or cooked. 

 Local namCj hahilla. 



2. Pachyrhizus tuberosus (Laui.) Spreng. 



(Urban, :il2.) 



Herb twining, 3 to G meters high; root consisting of a number of simide corddike 

 fibers, several feet in h^nglh, stretching under the surface of the ground, bearing in 

 their course a succession of tubers; leaflets subentire or slightly sinuate (in the young 

 leaves sometimes deeply lobed); raceme almost simple, the lower branches very 

 sln>rt, many-flowered; flowers white; pod 20 to 30 cm. long, 1.8 to 2 cm. broad, con- 

 titricted between the seeds; seeds red. 



Cultivated near Bincon in Hacienda La Palmira. Native country unknown, ilr, 

 Oliver says "I think this plant may well be a variety of r. angalatus Rich, originated 

 under cultivation, but so marked as to require a distinct name for cultural pm-poses, 

 and for the present the specific name given l)y Lamarck may suitably be adopted.'' 



Cultivated for its largt* edil>le tubers. It can be phuited at any season of the year, 

 and the roots are fit for digging in 4 or 5 months. The pods of this plant (the yam 

 bean), according to Dr. Trimen, are an admirable vegetalde, superior to ordinary 

 French beans in the abs<Mice of a librous string about the sutures of the pod. The 

 seeds are pois'jnous. Macfadyen says in the Flora of Jamaica, '' The tubers may either 

 be boiled plain, in which state they are a ^'ory good substitute for yams and other 

 roots in common use, or tliey may be submitted to a process similar to arrowroot, and 

 a starcdi obtained. This starch is pure white and is equal in every respect to arrow- 

 root. 



M 



67. DOLICHOS L. 



Dolichos L. Sp. PI. 2: 725. 1753. 



MacrotylomaWioHT & Arx. Prod. Fl. Pen. Tnd. Or. 1: 248. 1834. 



DoJickus E. Mey. Comm. PL Afr. Austr. 140. 1835. 



Calyx campanulate, the 2 upp<?r tcoih united into one entire or emarginate one; 



standard (>rl>icular, the thickened base appendiculate with indexed auricles; wings 

 falcate-ol>ovate, adhering to the keel; keel much incurved, usually rostrate, but not 



t^Cook and Collins, p. 208^ as Pachyrrhizus angidatits. 



