LEGUMINOS^. 255 



ceous or pubescent, patenti-reflected, adhering to the 

 obtuse keel. Stamens variously connected, monadel- 

 phous, or diadelphoiis with the upper filament slightly- 

 adhering. Style filiform : stigma terminal. Legume 

 generally sessile, compresso-plane, linear, many-seed- 

 ed, with the valves plane : seeds compressed. — De 

 Cand. 



Shrubs or herbaceous plants not twining. The above char- 

 acter, so far as the calyx is concerned, does not apply very ac- 

 curately to our Jamaica species Name, from rs(p^og ash-coloured, 



in allusion to the prevailing colour of the foliage. 



1. Tephrosia toxicaria. Surinam Poison. 



SufFruticose erect, leaflets 14-20-paired lineari- 

 oblong apiculate pubescent above argenteo-sericeous 

 with appressed hairs beneath, racemes terminal, 

 legumes linear subteretevelutino-villous shortly mucro- 

 nate 10-seeded. 



Galega toxicaria, Sicartz, Prod. 108. — Fl. Ind. Occ. 1278. 

 Tephrosia toxicaria, Pers. Ench. II. 328. 



HAB. Cultivated : rarely found wild. 



FL. Throughout the year. 



An erect shrubby plant, 4-3 feet in height : extremities of 

 the branches anguloso-sulcated, rufescenti-velutine. Leaflets 

 petiolated, nearly 2 inches in length, and 4 lines broad. Stipules 

 subulate, A of an inch in length. Racemes termmal : rachis 

 3-gonal, velutine. Flowers shortly pedicelled, in clusters of 

 4-6, white with a purplish tinge. Calyx sub-bilabiate; upper 

 lip 2-fid ; under lip 3-partite as far as the middle ; divisions 

 acute. Standard externally rufescenti-sericeous. Stamens 

 sub-monadelphous, i. e. the 10th stamen adhering to the rest 

 for only a short distance above the base. Legume sessile, 

 2-3^ inches long : seeds oblong, light brown variegated with 

 black. 



This plant is said to have been originally brought from Su- 

 rinam, or, what is more probable, from Africa. It is very 

 generally cultivated, and may occasionally be met with gi-ow- 

 ing wild. It is employed for the purpose of poisoning fish in 

 rivers. The young branches with the leaves pounded, and 

 sometimes mixed with quicklime, are thrown into a pool, or, 

 in the language of the country, blue-hole of some mountain 

 stream, and have an almost immediate eflPect. The fish are 

 observed to become stupified, and as it were intoxicated, and 

 to rise to the surface, floating there with their belly upwards, 

 so as to be readily taken by the hand. It has been remarked. 



