220 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 



spiral; upper stamen free, often appendieulate or incrassate near the base; anthers uni- 

 form; ovary subsessile, multiovulate; style thickened upwards, either bearded longi- 

 tudinally on the inner side or hairy all around, at least around the stigma, which is 

 small and terminal; pod linear or broadly oblong, compressed, straight or curved, the 

 sutures incrassatcd, the valves nearly flat or slightly convex; seeds thick, compressed. 

 Twining, trailing, or erect shrubs or undershrubs; leaves pinnate; leaflets 3, stipellate; 

 stipules usually small; flowers violet, flesh-colored, yellowish or whitish, sometimes 

 solitary or fascicled, sometimes in racemes; bracts and bracteoles striate, usually small. 



1. Dolichos lablab L. 



(Urban, 312, as Lablab vulgaris Savi.) 



A wide-climbing perennial with subglabrous stem; leaflets membranous, central 

 one ovate-deltoid, 7.5 to 10 cm. long, broadly spatulately narrowed at the base; flowers 

 in racemes, 7.5 to 15 cm. long; calyx 3.3 to 6.5 mm. long, subglabrous; corolla 1.5 to 1.9 

 cm. deep, reddish or pale, keel abruptly incurved; style flattened upwards, not 

 twisted, narrowed at the base; pod 3.5 to 5 cm. long, 2 cm. broad, narrowed at the base, 

 the upper suture nearly straight, the faces glabrescent, rarely persistently pubescent; 

 seeds 2 to 4. 



There occur also three varieties, one with white flowers, variety albifiorus DC, the 

 second with purple flowers, variety purpureus DC, and the third with rose-colored 

 flowers. 



Cultivated and seemingly wild at Bayamon in gardens; nearCaguas; nearMayaguez; 

 cultivated near Rincon and also near Aguadilla, at Espinal. Bahama (Hitchcock), 

 Cuba (Grisebach), Jamaica, St. Croix, St. Bartholomew (Euphrasen), St. Kitts (Grise- 

 bach), Antigua (do.), Guadeloupe 1 , Martinique, St. Vincent, Bequia (Kew Bull. no. 

 81, p. 247). In the tropics of both hemispheres. Native country probably tropical 

 Africa (Bentham). 



This plant is universally cultivated in the tropics, where the young pods and the 

 black or brown seeds are used as a vegetable. 



Local names, frijoles caballeros, chicharos, cicero. 



