210 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 



often gland-like or none; flowers usually large, purplish, pink, or white, in axillary 

 racemes; pedicels very short, clustered on lateral nodes along the upper portion of the 

 rachisj| bracts minute; bracteoles small, orbicular, very deciduous. 



KEY TO THE SPECIES. 



Leaflets obovate or orbiculate, very obtuse or retuse, membranous 

 or subpapyraceous; pod oblong, 5 to 13 cm. long, 2 to 3 cm. wide; 

 "seeds 6 to 8, chestnut-brown with a black spot, opaque, ovoid, 

 1.5 cm. long, 1 cm. wide. 1. C. obtusifolia. 



Leaflets chartaceous or chartaceous-coriaceous, ovate or narrowly 

 ovate, very shortly and acutely acuminate; pod oblong-linear, 

 12 to 25 cm. long; seeds ovate-rotundate, 18 to 24 mm. long, 15 

 to 20 mm. wide, wine-colored, 4 to 6-seeded. 2. C. rusiosperma. 



1. Canavalia obtusifolia (Lam.) DC. 



(Urban, 306.) 



Stem biennial, climbing or sometimes prostrate; petiole 5 to 7.5 cm. long; leaflets 

 7.5 to 10 cm. long, 5 to 6 cm. wide; flowers in 16 down to 12-flowered racemes on long 

 flexuose peduncles; pedicels stout, 4 to 6 mm. long, springing from fleshy tubercles; 

 calyx broad-campanulate, 1.2 cm. deep, the upper lip rounded, bifid, glabrous; corolla 

 reddish-purple, fragrant; standard 1.8 to 2.5 cm. long; pod with two prominent ribs a 

 little distant from the upper suture. 



In coast districts near Yabucoa; in thickets at Puerto de la Vaca; near Patillas, at 

 Guardaraya; near Guanica, at Salinas; near Mayaguez. South Florida (Chapman), 

 Bermuda (Hemsley), Bahama, Cuba, Jamaica, Cayman, Haiti, St. Thomas, St. Croix, 

 St. John (Eggers), Antigua (Grisebach), Sandy Island, Guadeloupe, Dominica (Grise- 

 bach), Martinique, St. Vincent, Bequia (Kew Bull. No. 81, p. 246), Grenada, Tobago, 

 Trinidad (Grisebach). Widely dispersed through the tropics of both hemispheres and 

 often cultivated. C. obtusifolia is a characteristic plant of sandy seashores, where it 

 often creeps among stones. According to Balfour it " is a useful binder of loose sand." 



The ovate leaves, the long pod, and the large wine-colored seeds of C. rusiosperma 

 make it easy to distinguish from C. obtusifolia, which has obovate or orbicular leaves, a 

 shorter pod, and chestnut-brown seeds. 



Local name, mato de la playa. 



2. Canavalia rusiosperma Urb. 



(Urban, 305.) 



Stem twining, reaching 10 cm. in thickness, climbing on high trees; petiole 3.5 to 8 

 cm. long; leaflets 6.5 to 10 cm. long, 4 to 5.5 cm. wide; inflorescence 5 to 25 cm. long; 

 calyx 11 mm. long, upper lobes 6 to 7 mm., lower ones 1 to 2 mm. long, thinly pilose or 

 glabrous; petals red (Stahl) or violet (Eggers); standard 2 to 2.3 cm. long; pod 12 to 25 

 cm. long, 4 to 5 cm. wide with two prominent ribs a little distant from the upper sutures. 



In the primeval forests near Maricao, on Mount Montoso; near Lares at Callejones; 

 near Quebradillas. Haiti, St. Thomas. 



Local name, mato Colorado. 



62. C A JANUS DC. 



Cajan Adans. Fam. 2: 326, 529. 1763. 

 Cajanus DC. Cat. Hort. Monsp. 85. 1813. 

 Cajanum Raf. Sylva Tellur. 25. 1838. 



Calyx campanulate, with the two upper teeth connate, the others equal; standard 

 orbicular, reflexed, the base appendiculate with indexed auricles; wings obliquely 

 obovate; keel with an incurved apex, truncate; upper stamen free, the others connate: 

 anthers uniform; ovary subsessile, multiovulate; style incrassate above the middle, 



