PERKINS THE LEGUMINOSAE OF PORTO RICO. 149 



coriaceous or submembranous, 2-valved, the valves depressed between the seeds or 

 indistinctly septate; seeds transverse, ovate. Perennial herbs or decumbent or aquatic 

 undershrubs, stems usually compressed or triangular; leaves bipinnate, the leaflets 

 small; stipules membranous, obliquely cordate; flower heads ovate-globose, axillary, 

 solitary, the lower neuter flowers with elongated petaloid staminodia. 



1. Neptunia plena (L.) Benth. 

 (Urban, 268.) 



Undershrub, decumbent or ascending; pinnae 2 or 3-jugate, the petiole bearing a 

 gland between the lowest pair; leaflets 14 to 20-jugate, narrowly linear, 4 to 7 mm. 

 long, 2 mm. wide; bracts in the middle of the peduncle alternate, cordate, longer per- 

 sistent than in other species; flower-heads oval, the flowers yellow, the calyx 2 mm. 

 long; corolla 3.5 mm. long; anthers brown; legume stipitate, at length deflexed, 3 to 4 

 cm. long, 1 cm. wide, 5 to 20-seeded. 



Near Maunabo, at Punta de la Tuna; near Guanica, on the swampy shore of the 

 lagoon toward La Plata; between Vega Baja and Dorado, in sandy districts; near 

 Dorado, on inundated sandy land. Cuba (Richard), Jamaica (Grisebach), Haiti, 

 Antigua (Grisebach), Guadeloupe Martinique, St. Vincent, Union (Kew Bull. no. 81, 

 p. 249), Grenada, Curacao, South America, tropical Asia (introduced). 



The plant figured in the Botanical Register" as N. plena, and described as having a 

 spongy floating stem, was probably N. oleracea. 



Local name, desmanto amarillo. 



11. ADENANTHERA L. 



Adenanthera L. Sp. PL 1: 384. 1753. 

 Stachychrysum Boj. Hort. Maurit. 114. 1837. 

 Gonsii Adans. Fam. 2: 318. 1763. 



Flowers hermaphrodite or polygamous, 5-merous, substipitate; calyx campanulate, 

 shortly toothed; corolla segments coherent below or free; stamens 10, free, scarcely 

 exserted; ovary sessile, multiovulate, style filiform, stigma small, terminal; legume 

 linear, usually curved, compressed or often turgid over the seeds, usually incurved 

 or falcate, 2-valved, usually septate; seeds scarlet or two-colored, thick, the testa 

 hard, smooth. Trees, unarmed ; leaves bipinnate; leaflets small, multijugate; flow 

 ers white or yellowish; racemes often elongated, solitary or fascicled in the axils or 

 panicled at the extremities. 



1. Adenanthera pavonina L. 



(Urban, 269.) 



Tree, 5 to 8 meters high; pinnae 2 to 5-jugate; leaflets 6 to 10-jugate, ovate or oblong- 

 elliptical, 2.6 to 5 cm. long, 1 to 2.5 cm. broad, very obtuse, glabrous; flowers in 

 racemes; calyx 1 mm. long; corolla 3.5 mm. long; legume 10 to 27 cm. long, 1 to 1.5 

 cm. wide, brown outside, golden yellow inside, linear, compressed, incurved; seeds 

 scarlet, smooth. 



Cultivated and seemingly spontaneous near Bayamon; near Cabo Rojo; near Maya- 

 guez; near Aflasco, around Hacienda Pagan. Cuba (Grisebach), Jamaica (do.), Cay- 

 man (Hitchcock), St. Thomas (Eggers), St. Croix (do.), St. John (do.), Guadaloupe, 

 Martinique (Duss), St. Vincent, Bequia. Native country tropical Asia. 



This plant is introduced in the West Indies and other parts of tropical America, and 

 possibly in tropical Africa and tropical Australia. The glistening red seeds (condori l 

 are worn as ornaments by the women and, roasted or boiled with rice, they are used as 



oBot. Reg. 32: pi. 3. 1846. 



