Desmodiitm LEGU.MINOS.i; 31 



Pedicels 2 or 3 together, -7-1 cm. 1. Flowers very small, rosy or greenish- 

 white tinged with purple. Calyx l'5(-2-5) mm. 1. Corolla about 3 mm. 1. 

 Pod 1-1 - 5 em. 1., puberulous with minute hooked hairs. 



7. D. seorpiurus Desv. Jotirn. Bot. i. l'2'2 (1813); stem vt-ry 

 long, procumbent, rooting near the base, angular, pubescent ; 

 leaflets 3 ; stipules semicordate, acuminate ; flowers in lax racemes 

 opposite a leaf or axillary ; pod indented slightly equally from 

 both margins ; joints 7-4, net-veined, linear-oblong, more than 

 twice as long as broad, 4-5 mm. 1. DC. Prodr. it. 333 ; Mn<-f. 

 Jain. i. -71; Grind). /'/'. >'it. ; Urb. toiit. fit. 293. Hedysarum 

 triphyllurn hirsutum &c. Browne Hi*t. Jam. 301. H. seorpiurus 

 Stv. Prodr. 107 (1788) &'Fl. Ind. Occ. 1269. Meibomia scorpiurus 

 Kuntze torn. cit. 198 (1891). 



Common in pastures and by roadsides ; in fl. Oct. -Jan. ; Sloane Herb, 

 iii. 86*! Guys Hill, Browne; Bancroft ! St. Andrew, Mts., Macfadycn ; 

 Distin ! Golden Spring, 800 ft., Thompson \ Port Antonio, Lucea, Hitchcock ; 

 Hope Gardens, Harris \ Fl. Jam. 8064, 11,854. West Indies, Mexico 

 to Peru. 



Stems to 5 dm. and more. Leaflets roundish-elliptical or oblong- 

 elliptical, pubescent or glabrate on the upper surface, more or less pubescent 

 and glaucous beneath, l-3(-5) cm. 1. Racemes '5-1 '5 dm. 1. Calyx 

 ~1 5-3 mm. 1. Corolla pale rosy or whitish tinged with purple, 4 5 mm. 1. 

 Pod puberulous with minute hooked hairs. 



8. D. molle DC. Prodr. ii. 332 (1825); stem erect, velvety- 

 pubescent with some hairs hooked ; leaflets 3 ; stipules semi- 

 cordate, acuminate ; flowers in terminal and axillary racemes or 

 panicles ; pod twisted, net-veined, of 2 joints only, the terminal 

 one fertile, the other sterile (occasionally both sterile) ; fertile 

 joint orbicular or elliptical, emarginate on one side, 6-7 mm. 1.- 

 Macf. Jam. i. 267 ; Benth. torn. cit. 104 ; Griseb. Zoc, cit. ; Ur!>. 

 torn. cit. 292. Hedysarum molle Valil Sijnib. ii. 83 (1791). 

 Meibomia mollis Kuntze torn. cit. 198 (1891). 



" In fl. end of year; common weed in the cane pieces of Guauabou, 

 St. John." Macfadycn. Hispaniola, Mona, Porto Eico, St. Thou 

 St. Cruz, Martinique, Curacao, Central America, Colombia, Bra/il, Guiana. 

 We have not seen any specimen from Jamaica. 



Stem somewhat shrubby, 2-3 ft. high or more. 7 ovate, 0V 



triangular to lanceolate, soft and velvety to the touch on both sides with 

 minute adpressod hairs, ciliate, 2-8 cm. 1. /a/o'm^.s or jxniicU'x 1-3 dm. 1. 

 /Vf/jrc/.s generally :\ together, longer than the nower>, -5-- 7 cm. 1. Floi-- 

 very small, purplish. Calyx about 2 mm. 1. Corolla about 3 mm. 1. / 

 puberulous. 







[D. g-yrans DC. P/W,-. //. 320 (1825); leaflets 3j lateral 

 very small in e<nip;irison with the terminal leaflet and mnvini: 

 by jerks (sometimes wanting); upper margin of pod continuous, 

 lower indented, indistinctly 6 10-jointed, dehiscing in a con- 

 tinuous line along the lower margin. - -Wujli L'. t. - ( J\ : llnl;. 



