184 



FABACEAE. 



bearded along the inner side; stigma oblique. Pod linear, nearly terete, 2- 

 valved. [In honor of Domenie Vigni, a commentator on Theophrastus.] About 

 30 species, natives of warm tropical regions, the following typical. 



1. Vigna repens (L.) 

 Kuntze. YELLOW VIGNA. 

 (Fig. 206.) Foliage usu- 

 ally pubescent with rather 

 appressed hairs. Stems 

 trailing or climbing, 

 branching, when pubes- 

 cent the hairs reflexed; 

 leaflets 3, ovale to lance- 

 olate or linear, f-3' long, 

 acute, more or less dis- 

 tinctly reticulated, short- 

 stalked ; petioles usually 

 longer than the leaflets; 

 peduncles surpassing the 

 subtending petioles, re- 

 trorsely pubescent at the 

 top; pedicels about 1" 

 long, corymbose ; calyx 

 campanulate, oblique, its 

 lobes triangular to lance- 

 olate ; corolla yellowish- 

 brown; standard with a 

 nearly reniform, notched 

 blade, less than 10" long; 

 pods linear, about 1' 

 long, nearly terete, pu- 

 bescent. [Dolichos repens 

 L. ; D. luteolus Jacq. ; 

 Vigna luteola Benth.] 



Roadsides and moist grounds, especially abundant along marshes from Hungry 

 Bay eastward in Taget and Devonshire. Naturalized from tropical America or the 

 southeastern United States. Flowers from spring to autumn. Not, as Verrill states, 

 a characteristic seaside vine. 



Vigna sinensis (L.) Endl., COW-PEA, Asiatic, sometimes grown as a green 

 manure crop, is an annual with trailing or climbing stems, the leaves with 3 

 acute or blunt leaflets 2 '-4' long, the yellowish flowers about 9" long, the 

 linear, fleshy pod 4 '-7' long. [Dolichos sinensis L.] 



10. DOLICHOS L. 



Climbing or trailing vines, with 3-foliolate stipellate leaves, and white to 

 purple flowers variously clustered or sometimes solitary, their bracts small or 

 caducous. Calyx campanulate, its two upper teeth united. Standard sub- 

 orbicular ; wings obovate, curved, adnate to the incurved keel. Stamens 9 

 and 1, their anthers all alike. Ovary many-ovuled; style bearded or peni- 

 cillate below the terminal stigma. Pod flat, mostly somewhat curved, beaked. 

 Seeds subglobose or flattened. [Greek name of some bean, referring to its 

 long pods.] About 30 species, of tropical distribution, the following typical. 



