268 BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 



(7) /. pulchella. A tall shrub, with long erect racemes of pink 

 or light purple flowers ; leaflets 13 to 21 ; pod straight, cylindrical 

 or turgid, sharp-pointed. Chimnati, nirda. Mahableshwar and 

 other high Ghauts. This is the only handsome species found in AV. 

 India, and is very ornamental. 



7. Psoralea. Leaves simple, dotted with glands, petals all 

 clawed ; pod ovoid or oblong, one-seeded, indehiscent. 



P. corylifolia. A tall stragging plant ; leaves ovate or roundish ; 

 irregularly toothed ; flowers small, violet coloured, tipped darker, in 

 close long stalked spikes ; pod included in the granular calyx. 

 Bawarchi. A common weed in the Deccan and elsewhere, especially 

 in cultivated fields. H. calls the corolla yellow. 



8. Tephrosia. Petals clawed ; pod linear, flat, many-seeded. 



T. purpurea. Half shrubby, more or less hairy, with a most 

 offensive smell ; leaflets 6 to 10 pair, oblong or obovate ; flowers red 

 or purple, in long racemes ; legumes slightly curved. Sirpaka, 

 unhula. A common rank weed springing up in the rains along with 

 Cassia Occident alls. There are varieties of this in Sind, Cutch and 

 elsewhere. 



9. Sesbania. Herbs or soft wooded shrubs ; leaves with very 

 numerous deciduous leaflets ; petals long, clawed ; pods very long 

 and narrow. 



(1) S. aculeata. Tall and weak, with stem and petioles covered 

 with soft prickles ; leaflets 20 to 40 pair, very small, obtuse; flowers 

 in racemes, yellow clotted with purple ; calyx nearly entire ; pod 

 nearly cylindrical, sharp-pointed. Ran shewani,chinchani. Known 

 (in the Ivonkan) by its wonderfully rapid growth, springing up to 

 the height of 7 or 8 feet in a very few weeks of the rains. II. calls 

 it cosmopolitan in the tropics of the Old World. 



(2) S. grandljiora. A tree with very large white flowers and 

 curved pods, a foot or more long. Both flowers and pods are eaten. 

 Commonly cultivated but a doubtful native. Agashi, hadgi. 



The next 5 genera have pods composed of joints, which when 

 rijte easily separate from one another. 



10. Geissapsis. Leaflets 2 pairs ; flowers with conspicuous mem- 

 branous bracts. 



G. cristata. A trailing plant among grass; leaflets small, obovate; 

 flowers small, orange and brown, each with a large roundish 

 bract edged with stiff brown hairs ; pod of 2 round joints. Barhi. 

 It is a remarkable looking plant, but common. 



