PERKINS THE LEGUMINOSAE OF PORTO RICO. 181 



wings obliquely oblong, somewhat longer than the obtuse keel; upper stamen free; 

 ovary stipitate, multiovulate; style filiform; stigma terminal, capitate; pod stalked, 

 oblong or widely linear, compressed, without articulations or separating into 1 to 6 

 oblong, coriaceous, striate ones; seeds oblong or ovoid, somewhat flat. Shrubs, gla- 

 brous; leaves imparipinnate; leaflets 3 to many, spinescent or pungent; stipules 

 often pungent; flowers yellow, in the axils of the leaves, solitary or in slender few- 

 flowered racemes; bracts and bracteolea caducous. 



Professor Urban has written a monograph of the West Indian species of this genus, 

 which is nearly related to Ormocarpum. He distinguishes two sections. The first, 

 Racemosae TJrb., is characterized by the numerous (15 to 25) leaflets, truncate or 

 usually emarginate at the apex, and by the elongated inflorescence. To this section 

 belong two species: P. obcordata DC. (San Domingo) and P. aculeata (Vahl) Urb. 

 (widely distributed in the "West Indies, first described by Vahl as Robinia aculeata). 

 The second, Fasciculatae Urb., has the leaflets fewer (3 to 7), linear or obovate, acumi- 

 nate or rounded at the apex; the inflorescence short with fasciculate flowers. This 

 section comprises also two species: P. spinifolia Urb. (occurring in Haiti and San 

 Domingo) and P. marginata Sauv. (found as yet only in Cuba). P. De Candolle, the 

 author of this genus, which is very characteristic of the West Indian Leguminosae, 

 enumerates six species, of which Urban thus admits only four. 



1. Pictetia aculeata (Vahl) Urb. a 

 (Urban, 287.) 



Shrub 3 to 4 meters high or tree 10 meters high; petioles 0.7 to 1.5 cm. long; leaflets 

 15 to 25, obovate-orbicular, rotundate, or obcordate, truncate or sometimes broadly 

 emarginate at the top, rounded or subtruncate at the base, 0.7 to 2 cm. long and wide; 

 pedicels 25 down to 12 mm. long; flowers yellow ; calyx-tube 3 to 4 mm. long; standard 

 17 to 22 mm. long; pod broadly linear, more or less incurved, 2.5 to 5 cm. long, 5 to 7 

 mm. wide, with 2 to 6 articulations. 



Near Fajardo, in copses on the seashore toward the light-house; between Arroyo 

 and Guayama, along roads; near Coamo, in woods at San Ildefonso; near Penuelas in 

 woods; at Salinas de Cabo Rojo in forests on the seashore. Haiti (Jacquin), Vieques 

 (De Candolle), Water Island, St. Thomas, St. John (Eggers), St. Croix (Jacquin), 

 Trinidad (probably cultivated). 



Local name, tachuelo. St. Thomas, fustic. 



39. AESCHYNOMENE L. 



Aeschynomene L. Sp. PL 2: 713. 1753. 



Aedemone Kotschy, Oestr. Bot. Zeitsch, 8: 116. 1858. 



Ilerminiera Guill. & Perr. Fl. Seneg. Tent. 201. pi. 51. 1832. 



Calyx lobes 5, nearly equal or united into two lips, either entire or the upper one 

 2-lobed, the lower 3-lobed; petals with short claws; standard orbicular; wings obliquely 

 obovate-oblong, about equal to the standard; keel sometimes obovate, obtuse, nearly 

 straight, sometimes narrow, acute or beaked, and much curved, the petals free or con- 

 nected by means of little hairs, or connate; stamens usually all united in a sheath more 

 or less split on both the upper and the lower edge, dividing the stamens into 2 bundles 

 of 5 each: anthers reniform; ovary stipitate, with 2 to many ovules; style incurved, the 

 stigma terminal, sometimes subcapitate; pod stipitate, more or less linear, straight, 

 annular, or falcate, smooth or muricate on the flat or slightly convex faces, separating 

 into 2 to many short, flat, usually indehiscent, reticulated articulations. Procumbent 



a For illustrations see Cook and Collins, pis. 4-', 43, facing p. 218 (as Pictetia aristata). 



