'|;NCiJ HORTUS JAMAICENSI5. 505 



1. DIPHYI.L-U.M. T\VO-I,EAVED. 



Iledj/sanim minus diplnjUum, fiore luteo. Sloane, v. 1, p. 1S5. 

 lierhacemn, prociimhens ; fuliis gemimtis ; spicis foliolatis, ter^ 

 ^ minulibus. Browne, p. 301. 



Leaves binate-petioled ; bracfes in pairs, ovate-acute, sessile. 

 The stems are herbaceous, of which it has tliree or four, trailincf on the p;round, 

 they are Eliform, round, smooth; leaves alternate, petioled, petioles stiff, horizontal, 

 distant, round, smooth ; leaflets on veiy short petioles, ohiong, sharp, entire, nerved, 

 smooth, pubescent underneath. Stipules opposite, on the side of tlie petioles at tho 

 base, obliquely ovate, acumitmte. To hincles a.xillary, terminating, !on.:^er than the 

 leaves, upright, stiff," many-llowered ; flowers alternate, On very short pedicels, be- 

 tween two opposite bractes, acuminate at both ends ; corolla yellow or purple. Calyx 

 unequal, the two hinder clefts converginpj, the two lateral ones smaller, rcunded, the 

 lowest sharp, lonjaer ; banner (;f the corolla roundish, scarcely opening, veined, pur- 

 plish; wings smaller than the banner; keel bowed in, acuminate; legiune a little 

 longer than the bractes, upriglit, (crooked like a half moon. Sloane ) ; jointed, echi- 

 nate, with one roundish flatted -seed in each, -inclosed in a semicircular joint.-^>yK'. 



This plant is very common in all the dry savannas about Spanish Town and Old Har- 

 bour, shooting plentifully after rain. It seldom tises above sixteen inches, bearing 

 numerous yellow flowers, in spikes, at the extreaiity of the branches. An apozem of 

 "this plant is said to be good in fevers. 



2. .'IDSCENDENS. ASCENDmG. 



Lea\-es roundish, pubescent underneath; stem coluntnar ; branches (Jeclined^ 

 ascending', hairy j racemes simple, erect, a.xillary. Sw. Pf. 106, 



3. SUPINUM. SUPINE. 



Iledysanim trip/ij/llui/ruticosuin supiimm, Jlorepiirpureo. Sloane^ 

 V. 1, p. 185, t. 118, f. 2. 



Leaves ovate, bluntish, hairy, villose underneath ; stem branched, procunn- 

 bent ; racemes sinaple, erect, terminating. 



Hoot long, small, woody ; stems a foot long, lying along the ground, rough, round, 

 Vvoody. Leaves at unequal distances, on petioles half au inch long, each having three 

 leaflets, pale underneatn, the middle one longest. Flowers in spikes, purple. Le- 



- games crooked, forming a semi-circle, brown; the joints united by so small an isth- 

 mus that, when they adnere by their roughness to clothes, they seperate, whence th 

 Portuguese name ejvfl rf'H(0). Every joint contains one pale yellow seed. It grows 

 almost every where in the woods and savannas. Piso says, the decoction of this plant 

 is good in a cold flux of the b>-dly, and that the smoke or fume from the leaves, re- 

 ceived with a covered head, cures the liead-ach. Barham says all sorts oi kedr/sarum, 

 especially the seeds, are bitter, and therefore good stomachics andexpellers of .poisons; 



-tiicy also, he says, open obstructions and kill worms. 



4. CANUM. HOARY, 



fcc ves ovate acuminate, hoary underneath ; stem columnar, branched, erect; 

 xacemea terminating, erect; legumes declined| rough with hairs, 



Er ^'^m. 



