Piper — The Cowhage and Related Species. 55 



Vexillum not half the length of the keel, varying in colour from dirty- 

 white to pale purple; Wings shorter than the keel, dark purple; Keel 

 cylindrical to near the end, where it suddenly curves upwards, and termi- 

 nates in a sharp spinous point. Stamens diadelphous ; Anthers alternately 

 linear and globular. Pistil: Germen short, hairy ; Style filiform, pubes- 

 cent for its whole length ; Stigma subcapitate. Legume 3-4 inches long, 

 and bent at the extremities, three-fourths of an inch to an inch, or 

 nearly so, broad, slightly compressed on the valves, not at all carinated, 

 contracted between the seeds, and hence subtorulose, entirely covered 

 with a thick coating of erect, white, prurient* hairs, which usually turn 

 black in drying, and brown in maturity. Seeds 4-5, oval, separated by 

 cellular partitions, not bound by a circular linear hilum, but attached to 

 a large lateral funiculus. 



"Found twining in hedges and among bushes, usually near water. 

 In the neighborhood of Negapatam, it is common in sandy soil. It 

 flowers during the rainy and cool seasons, and ripens its fruit about 

 March. It may be considered, indeed, extensively distributed over India ; 

 but nowhere perhaps so abundantly as in the Presidency of Madras. 

 The young pods are dressed and eaten by the natives. 



' ' It would appear from a query of De Candolle, " an Planta Americana 

 eadem certe ac Indica?" that there is some doubt as to the identity of 

 the American and Indian plants named Mucuna pruriens ; in my opinion 

 not without reason, for I suspect De Candolle's character is taken from 

 the former, and Sprengel's from the latter. The keeled legumes and 

 acuminated leaves which distinguish the first are certainly at variance 

 with my plant. On comparing my drawing with Woodville's plate, Tab. 

 CLXXIII, a very remarkable difference appears in the form of the 

 racemes, and also in their size. The form of the segments of the calyx, 

 in his figure, is very different from those of my plant ; in his, they are 

 represented as long, subulate teeth ; in mine, they are short and triangu- 

 lar, with their upper segment nearly a correct triangle. 



"(Upon a careful comparison of Dr. Wight's figure and specimens, 

 with the figure of Jacquin, (Americ. t. 122,) and American individuals 

 in my Herbarium, both from St. Vincent and from Guiana, I am inclined 

 to agree with Dr. Wight, and to consider the American and Asiatic species 

 to be different. In our plant the leaves are smaller, the leaflets more 

 obtuse (not acuminated), and the middle leaflet more truly rhomboidal, 

 the flowers are more constantly in threes, and, what affords perhaps the best 

 character, the pods are greatly broader, compressed, free from any raised 

 line on the back of the valve, whilst in the American M. pruriens the 

 pods are much narrower, terete, and keeled on the valves. Rumphius' 

 plate is very characteristic of our plant, and Jacquin's is equally excellent 

 as a representation of the American one; while Rheede's is less happy, 

 especially in the leaves. Under these circumstances, I trust Dr. Wight 

 will approve of my giving the specific name already adopted in the Her- 

 barium Amboinense, to designate the Eastern species. H.)." 



Three characters are emphasized in this description, namely the shape 

 of the calyx lobes, the form of the leaflets, and the absence of carina of 

 keel on the back of the pod valve. The calyx differences referred to by 

 Wight may be seen by comparing Woodville's plate drawn from a plant 

 in the Banksian herbarium, with the colored plate of Wight. There is 

 considerable variation, however, in the calyx lobes of all the Stizolobiums 

 which lack stinging hairs so that this character can not be relied upon 

 for specific identification, the variation including both actual and relative 



"The American M. pruriens is the famous Cowhage or Cow-itch, employed as a 

 vermifuge in the West Indies. 



