Piper — The Cowhage and Related Species. 53 



S. coriaceum Kuntze, Rev. Gen. PI. 207. 1891. 



M. coriacea Baker in Oliver Fl. Trop. Afr. 2:187. 1891. 

 S. axillare n. comb. 



M. axillaris Baker, Journ. Linn. Soc. 22:465. 1887. 

 S. rhynchosoides n. comb. 



M. rhynchosoides Taub. ; Engl. Bot. Jabrb. 23:194. 1897. 

 S. poggei Hiern. Cat. Welw. Afr. PI. 1:252. 1896. 



M. poggei Taub.; Engl. Bot. Jahrb. 23:194. 1897. 

 S. melanocarpum Kuntze, Rev. Gen. PI. 208. 1891. 



M. melanocarpa Hochst. in A. Rich. Tent. Fl. Abyss. 1:215. 1847. 

 S. stans Kuntze, Rev. Gen. PI. 208. 1891. 



M. stans Welw. in Oliver Fl. Trop. Afr. 2:186. 1871. 



1M. erecta Baker, Kew Bull. 65. 1895. 

 S. mollissimum n. comb. 



M. mollisiima Kurz, Journ. As. rioc. Bengal 43. 2 187. 1874. 



STIZOLOBIUM PRURIENS (L. ) Medicus, Vorles. Churpf. Phys. 

 Ges. 2:399. 1787. 

 Dolichos pruriens L. Syst. Nat. Ed. 10:1162. 1759. 

 Mucuna pruriens DC. Prodr. 2:405. 1825. 



Linnaeus' name is based on the description and plate of Rumphius' 

 Cacara pruritus (Herbarium Amboinense 5:393. tab. 142. 1747.) and 

 therefore the species must be the plant native to Amboina. 



No herbarium material has been found in any of the great herbaria 

 that can possibly be the plant of Rumphius. Upon the writer's request, 

 Dr. J. C. Konigsberger, Director of the Botanical Garden at Buitenzorg, 

 Java, has succeeded in obtaining mature pods of the cowhage native to 

 Amboina, and these prove to be identical with the plant common in the 

 Philippine Islands. From ample Philippine material, the following de- 

 scription is drawn. The species belongs to the section Brachi/ule and is 

 at once distinguished by the seeds from S. pruritum. 



Annual vine twining to a height of several meters; stems terete, some- 

 what angled or striate longitudinally, sparsely pubescent with short stout 

 retrorse hairs ; leaflets plane, rather firm when mature, ovate, the lateral 

 oblique, mostly obtuse, commonly cuspidate pointed, sparsely appressed 

 pubescent on each side, paler beneath; raceme pendent, densely flowered, 

 10 to 30 cm. long; flowers dark purple; pedicels slender, 5 to 10 mm. 

 long; calyx scarcely saccate, densely appressed canescent without and 

 within, armed on the exterior with numerous golden stinging hairs, the 

 lobes acute ; corolla 4 cm. long, the keel exceeding the wings, glabrous 

 except the base of the wings which are densely short bearded on the 

 lower edge near the base; pods slightly falcate, 8 to 11 cm. long, com- 

 pressed, 15 to 18 mm. broad and half as thick, 5 to 7-seeded, distinctly 

 constricted between the seeds, densely covered with reddish-brown ap- 

 pressed stinging hairs about 2 mm. long; longitudinal ridge obsolete or 

 evident only on the basal half of the pod ; seeds buff, densely speckled 

 with dark brown, shiny, rhomboid-orbicular in outline, much compressed, 



