PERKINS THE LEGUMINOSAE OF PORTO RICO. 191 



NearBayamon; near Aibonito, at Cari-Blanco; near Coamo, in the valley of El Fuerte 

 River, in meadows around Serillos at Salinas, and on grassy declivities toward Aibon- 

 ito; near Juana Diaz, along roads around Escalabrado; near Penuelas in the rocky plains 

 at Tallaboa Alta; near Mayaguez; near Rincon, in plains at Barrio del Pueblo. Cuba, 

 Jamaica, St. Thomas, St. Croix (Eggers), St. John (Eggers), Antigua (Grisebach), Gua- 

 deloupe, Martinique (Duss), St. Vincent, Union (Kew Bull. no. 81. p. 245), Barbados, 

 Trinidad (Grisebach). Common in tropical America; found also in the East Indies, 

 Africa, and the Polynesian Islands. 



Local name, zarzabacoa (spiral. 



11. Desmodium scorpiurus (Sw.) Desv. 

 (Urban, 293.) 



Procumbent, rooting at the base; stem angular; leaflets 3, oval or oblong, 1.5 to 4 

 cm. long, 1 to 1.5 cm. wide, rounded at the apex, clothed on both surfaces with long, 

 silky, appressed hairs; calyx 2.5 to 3 mm. deep, deeply cleft; corolla slightly exceed- 

 ing the calyx, peach-colored, rose, or purple, becoming white; pod subsessile, 

 uncinate-pubescent, slightly constricted at the dissepiments, the joints 2 to 7, oval- 

 linear, minutely truncate at both ends, the terminal pointed. 



In Bayamon around the church; near the town in fields; near Fajardo in cultivated 

 places; between Aibonito and Algarrobo on precipices near the roads; between 

 Aibonito and Coamo on declivities; near Coamo, on Mount Santana and in the valley 

 of El Fuerte River; near Utuado, in ravines at San Andres; near Cabo Rojo, off Jiills 

 toward Joyuda. Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti, St. Thomas (Grisebach), St. Croix (Eggers), 

 Antigua (Grisebach), Guadeloupe, Dominica (Grisebach), Martinique, St. Vincent, 

 Grenada, Trinidad, Margarita. Mexico, Central America, Ecuador, Peru. 



A plant common in pastures. 



Local name, zarzabacoa cola de escorpion. 



44. ALYSICARPUS Neck. 



Alysicarpus Neck. Elem. 3: 15. 1790. 



Ftiln'icia Scop. Introd. 307. 1777, not Adans. 1763. 



Hegetschweilera Heer & Regel, Cat. Sem. Hort. Turic. 1842; Bot. Zeit. 1: 47. 1843. 



Calyx deeply cleft, the lobes stiff and dry, striate, subequal, the two upper ones 

 connate almost to the apex; standard orbicular or obovate, narrowed into a claw; 

 wings obliquely oblong, adherent to the keel; keel obtuse, slightly incurved, usually 

 with a little membrane on the outside on both margins; upper stamen free; ovary 

 sessile or substipitate, multiovulate; style filiform, indexed upwards; stigma termi- 

 nal, sometimes oblique, usually broadly capitate; pod terete or somewhat compressed, 

 equal or constricted between the articulations, these roundish or truncate at the 

 ends and indehiscent; seeds ovate or orbicular. Erect or diffuse herbs, glabrous or 

 loosely hairy; leaves simple in our species (or very rarely 3-foliate); stipules mem- 

 branous, scarious, acuminate, free or connate; flowers small, in terminal or rarely 

 axillary racemes, the pedicels visually in pairs; bracts and bracteoles usually scarious, 

 caducous. 



1. Alysicarpus nummularifolius (L.) DC." 



(Urban, 294.) 



A perennial, tufted or much branched at the base, the stems decumbent or ascend- 

 ing, from a few centimeters to 25 cm. long, glabrous or slightly pubescent ; leaves on 

 short slender petioles, the lower ones cordate-orbicular or oval, not 1.2 cm. long, the 



" Cook and Collins, p. 74, as Alysicarpus vaginalis. 

 25734 vol 10, pt 407 5 



