leguminos;r. 303 



10-25, with anthers glancliilose at the apex. Legume 

 compressed, distinctly articulated, with the valves 

 frequently on maturity separating into 2 membranes ; 

 joints 1 -seeded ; costaj persistent : seeds thick ; coty- 

 ledons fleshy, unchanged during germination, and^ 

 enclosed within the speryfiodermium under the ground. 

 — De Cand. ' 



Name, from v-aro; strung, from tlie joints of the legume 

 being, as it were, strung together. 



1. Entada gigalobium. Cocoon. 



Leaves bipinnate terminating in a tendril, pinnae 

 2-paired, leaflets 4-.5-paired glabrous on both sides 

 oblong emarginate, spikes supra-axillary, stamens 10. 



Phaseolus maximus perennis, folio decomposite, lobo maximo 

 contorto, Sloane, Jam. 68. — Gigalobium, Browne, 362. — Mi- 

 mosa scandens, Swartz, Ohs. 389. — Acacia scandens, Willd. IV. 

 1057. — Entada gigalobium, De Cand. II. 424. 



HAB. Common in mountain woods. 



FL. August. 



Stem climbing to a great height, 100-150 feet in length : 

 branches angulose, glabrous. Leaves bi-pinnate : pinnjfi 2- 

 paired : leaflets 4-5-paired, petiolulated, oblong, rounded and 

 subemarginate at the apex, somewhat unequilateral at the base, 

 delicately nerved and veined, glabrous, shining: common pe- 

 tiole subterete, slightly channelled above, terminating in a long 

 bifid tendril : partial petioles articulated on the common. Sti- 

 pules subulate, appressed. An open glandular pore or foramen 

 a little below and on each side of the insertion of the petiole. 

 Spike supra-axillary (with a row of tufted glandules between 

 the axil of the leaf and the insertion of the spike), very long 

 (longer than the leaf) : rachis terete, occasionally terminating 

 in a tendril : flowei'S numerous, small, very shortly pedicelled, 

 each furnished at the insertion with a minute lanceolate bractea. 

 Calyx minute, 5-dentate. Petals 5, oblong, small, green. 

 Stamens 10 (according to Swartz 20-24), capillary, longer 

 than the petals, twisted and hence apparently of the same 

 length : anthers green, didymous, bearing a minute shortly pe- 

 dicelled glandule. Pistil sometimes abortive, and its parts im- 

 perfectly developed : ovary lineari-oblong, glabrous : style pro- 

 truding beyond the twisted stamens, capillary, green, twisted : 

 stigma white, obtuse. Legume very large, 6-8 feet in length, 

 4 inches or more in breadth at the widest part, compressed, 

 glabrous, of a brown colour, variously twisted, 2-valved, 10- 

 12-seeded: seeds suborbiculate, compressed, 2 inches in breadth. 



This is a very common climber in woods on the North 



