PERKINS THE LEGUMINOSAE OF PORTO RICO. 185 



According to Cook and Collins the Porto Rican peanuts are very small in size and 

 not many are grown. 

 Local name, mani. 



42. ZORNIA Gmel. 



Zornia Gmel. Syst. 2 2 : 1076, 1096. 1791. 

 Zonana Steud. Nom. ed. 2. 1: 101. 1840. 



Calyx tubuliform-eanipanulate, membranous, the two upper teeth rather long, sub- 

 connate, the two lateral ones much shorter, the lowest lanceolate-oblong, almost as 

 long as the upper ones; petals unguiculate; standard suborbicular; wings obliquely 

 obovate or oblong; keel incurved, subrostrate; stamens all connate in a tube; anthers 

 alternately longer and shorter, attached near the base and versatile; ovary sessile, 

 multiovulate; style filiform; stigma small, terminal; pod compressed, the upper 

 suture nearly straight, the lower deeply sinuate, the articulations indehiscent, smooth, 

 or echinate; seeds orbicular or subreniform. Herbs or suff rutescent ; leaves equally 

 pinnate; leaflets 2 or 4, often punctate; stipules usually foliaceous; flowers solitary, 

 sessile or shortly stipitate, in lax terminal or axillary spikes hidden each by a pair of 

 persistent bracts; bracteoles wanting. 



1. Zornia diphylla (L.) Pers. 

 (Urban, 289.) 



Herb; stem 30 cm. or more long, slender, herbaceous, glabrous, diffusely branched 

 from the base; stipules lanceolate; petioles 1 to 2 cm. long, the leaflets in a single pair 

 at the apex, lanceolate 2.5 to 3.5 cm. long, 6 to 9 mm. wide, the edge slightly ciliate, the 

 surface glabrous; flowers in lax axillary stalked racemes 5 to 7.5 cm. long, 6 to 8 in num- 

 ber, hidden each by a pair of persistent bracts, which are ovate, rigid, 6 to 9 mm. long, 

 slightly bristly-ciliate; calyx 3 to 4.5 mm. long, scarious; corolla 6 to 9 mm. long, 

 purplish; pod sometimes exceeding the bracts, articulations 2 to 4, the bristles 1 to 2 

 mm. long. 



Near Bayamon in sandy meadows; near Salinas de Cabo Rojo on the edge of the 

 woods; near Mayaguez, on slopes of Mount Mesa; near Afiasco; near Aguada, on plains 

 at Rosario; near Manati, in sandy soil at Campo Alegre around Tortuguero Lake. 

 Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti, St. Thomas, St. Croix (De Candolle), Guadeloupe, Desirade 

 (Grisebach), Dominica (do.), Martinique, St. Lucia, Barbados, Trinidad (Grisebach). 

 This plant is found everywhere in the tropics and subtropics. 



Zornia diphylla is stacked by the Foulahs of western Africa for horse provender. It 

 is sometimes used as a remedy against fever. 



Local name, zarzabacoa de dos hojas. 



43. DESMODITJM Desv. 



Meibomia Adans. Fam. 2: 509, 575. 1763. 



Desmodium Desv. Journ. Bot. 1: 122. pi. 5. fig. 15. 1813. 



Pleurolobus J . St. Hil. Nouv. Bull. Soc. Philom. 3: 192. 1812. 



Calyx with campanulate or turbinate short tube, the upper two teeth more or less 

 united, the other three acute or subulate-acuminate; petals sessile or unguiculate; 

 standard oblong, obovate, or suborbicular, usually narrowed toward the base, seldom 

 obtuse or subcordate above the claw; wings obliquely oblong, adherent to the kind 

 without appendage or by means of a membrane or a tubercle; keel straight, sometimes 

 incurved, obtuse, rarely rostrate; upper stamens free at the base, toward the middle 



Cook and Collins, pp. 188, 189, as Meibomia. 



