188 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 



cm. long; bracts ovate, cuspidate, equaling the slender pedicels, 8.8 to 13 mm. long, 

 spreading ultimately from the rachis at right angles; calyx 6 mm. deep, teeth linear, 

 reaching down nearly to the base; corolla purple or reddish, rarely white, twice as long 

 as the calyx; pod 1.2 to 2 cm. long, 2.2 mm. broad, joints 3 to 6, the lower suture 

 waved halfway down. 



Near Bayamon in moist sandy soil at Catano; Sierra de.Luquillo halfway to the top 

 of Mount Jimenez in woods; Sierra de Naguabo, near Minas de Cobre at Rio Blanco; 

 near Los Mameyes; near Juncos on roadsides; near Hato Grande on Mount Gregorio; 

 between Aguas Buenas and Caguas along roads; between Caguas and Cayey along 

 roads; near Cayey at Quebrada Arriba; near Aibonito along roads; near Adjuntas, on 

 the declivities of Mount Andubo and on Mount Cedro; near Maricao; near Mayaguez, 

 on declivities of Mount Mesa. Cuba (Grisebach), Jamaica, Haiti, St. Kitts (Grise- 

 bach), Antigua (do.), Guadeloupe, Dominica, Martinique, St. Vincent, Grenada, 

 Tobago, Trinidad (Grisebach). This is a common American species, but in the Old 

 World is only known in Africa. 



Local name, zarzabacoa galana. 



4. Desmodium axillare (Sw.) DC. 

 The Porto Rican material is included in the following varieties and form: 

 4a. Desmodium axillare obtusifoliola (Jvuntze) Urb. 



(Urban, 291.) 



Herbaceous, rarely suffrutescent, creeping, rooting, 30 to 45 cm. long, clothed with 

 very short soft inconspicuous hairs intermixed with hamate ones; leaflets 3, rhomboid, 

 ovate-rhomboid or orbicular-rhomboid, 3.5 to 5.5 cm. long, 2.5 to 4.5 cm. wide, obtuse 

 or rounded at the apex; flowers rose-colored, dark rose-colored , or reddish-violet, about 

 5 mm. long, the pedicel 6.5 to 13 mm. long; legume long-stipitate, the suture slightly 

 notched, the dorsal margin sinuate as deep as to the ventral suture; articulations del- 

 toid-semioval, 7 to 8 mm. long, 4 to 5 mm wide. 



Near Bayamon in shady places; Sierra de Luquillo in woods halfway to the top of 

 Mount Jimenez; near Los Mameyes in moist localities among herbs; near Cayey, in a 

 thicket of Coffea arabica at Pedro Avila; near Adjuntas, in woods on Mount La Vaca. 

 Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti, St. Kitts, Guadeloupe, Dominica, St, Vincent, Grenada, Costa 

 Rica, Venezuela, Colombia, Chile. 



This plant is extremely common in shady places in Porto Rico. 



Local name, zarzabacoa de monte. 



4b. Desmodium axillare acutifolium (Kuntze) Urb. 



(Urban, 292.) 



Stem densely clothed with long, soft hairs intermixed with short, often very incon- 

 spicuous, hamate ones; leaflets ovate or ovate-elliptical, acuminate; flowers pale pur- 

 ple; articulations of the pod 6 to 8 mm. long, 4 to 5 mm. wide. 



Near Bayamon in the woods at Pueblo Viejo, near Juncos on Mount Santo de Leon. 

 Cuba, Jamaica, Martinique, Si. Vincent, Trinidad, Guiana, and Brazil. 



4c. Desmodium axillare forma robustius Urb. 



(Urban, 292.) 



Tin- stem thicker than in variety angustatum, 3 mm. thick and densely hirsute; ter- 

 minal leaflet 12 cm. long; flowers rather longer than in variety angustatum; wings 5 

 mm. long; pod articulations 10 mm. long, 6 nun. wide; calyx red-brown; petals pale 

 rose-colored; stamens rose-colored; authors pale yellow (ex Sintenis). 



Sierra de Luquillo, in woods halfway to the top of Mount Jimenez. 



