PERKINS THE LEGUMINOSAE OF PORTO RICO. 213 



The differences in the pod and seeds of R. phaseoloides and R. minima are quite strik- 

 ing. The pod of the former is constricted between the seeds, and the seeds arc black 

 with a scarlet-yellow ring around the hilum, while the pod of the latter is not con- 

 si ricted between the seeds, is much smaller, and has seeds that arc entirely black. The 

 large brown glands on the under side of the leaves and on the calyx of R. minima are 

 most noticeable. 



Local names, bejuco de paloma, peronias. 



3. Rhynchosia minima (L.) DC.<* 

 (Urban, 307.) 



Stems firm, herbaceous, slender, trailing or twining, minutely tomentose or nearly 

 glabrous; leaflets broadly ovate-rhomboidal, mostly about 2.5 cm. long when full grown, 

 but often much smaller; stipules minute, setaceous; racemes bearing in their upper por- 

 tion scattered pendulous yellow flowers, rarely exceeding 6.5 mm. in length, on very 

 short pedicels; calyx 4.5 mm. long, subglabrous; teeth linear-setaceous, reaching more 

 than halfway down; corolla 18 mm. deep; standard not silky, yellow veined with 

 purple. 



Near Bayamon; near Catano; near Coamo, in the valley of El Tendal River; near 

 Lares, in thickets at Los Angeles; near Guanica, between Boca and Barinas in ditches; 

 near Cabo Rojo, at Miradero; near Mayaguez, in coast districts at Algarrobo; near Rin- 

 con, at Calvache. One of the Florida Keys (Chapman), Bahama, Cuba, Jamaica, 

 Cayman, Haiti, St. Thomas, St. Croix, St. John (Eggers), St. Bartholomew (Stockholm 

 Herbarium), Guadeloupe, Martinique, St. Vincent, Bequia (Kew Bull. no. 81, p. 247), 

 Mustique (do.), Union, Barbados, Grenada* Trinidad (Grisebach), Margarita. This 

 species appears to be abundant in almost all subtropical or tropical countries. A com. 

 mon weed (ex Grisebach). 



Local name, frijolillo, peqaeno. 



64. PHASEOLUS L. 



Phaseolus L. Sp. PI. 2: 723. 1753. 



Calyx campanulate or shortly tubuliform, the 2 upper teeth free or connate, the 

 others deltoid or lanceolate; standard orbicular recurved or subtortuous, more or less 

 distinctly auriculate at the base, the edges inflexed toward the base, with or without a 

 longitudinal callus in the middle; wings obovate or rarely oblong, equaling or exceed- 

 ing the standard, adhering to the keel above the claw, often twisted; keel linear or 

 obovate, with a long obtuse spirally twisted beak; upper stamen free, often incrassated 

 or appendiculate above the base, the rest connate; ovary subsessile, with a cupuliform- 

 discus, multiovulate; style long, incrassated within the beak of the keel and twisted 

 with it, usually longitudinally bearded upward; stigma oblique or on the inner side 

 of the style; pod linear or oblong, terete or compressed, straight or falcate. 2-valved, 

 usually slightly septate between the seeds. Herbs, either annual or perennial and 

 woody at the base, short and erect or elongated and twining in the same species; leaves 

 pinnate; leaflets 3 or very rarely 1, with stipules; stipules persistent, striate, often cal- 

 carate; flowers white, yellow, violet, red, or purple, in axillary racemes; bracts usually 

 deciduous; bracteoles often wide and for some time persistent. 



a Cook and Collins, p. 136, as Dolicholus minimus. 



