Dolichos LEGUMINOSAE Pueraria 



37. Dolichos Linn. HIlM (Pien Tou Shu) 



Plants herbaceous or somewhat woody, mostly twining; distinguished from Phase- 

 olus by having the keel of the corolla bent at right angles, not coiled; and separated 

 from Vigna by having flattened, usually curved, pods and broad seeds. 20-50 species, 

 in the eastern tropics; 1 or 2 cultivated in China. (Greek: dolichos, long, used by 

 Theophrastus for some kind of bean.) 



1. Dolichos lablab Linn. Hyacinth Bean ||1 (Pien Tou; Flat Bean) (B.M. 575). 

 Twining vine; fls. lavendar or white, VIII-X; fr. IX-X; pod flat. Introduced 

 from eastern tropics; locally in An., Ku. Cultivated, vegetable. Fig. 187. 



38. Rhynchosia Lour. HJfM (Lu Ho Shu) 



Twining (ours) or erect herbs: Ifts. often punctate, not stipellate: fls. yellow; 

 stamens diadelphous; style beardless: pods rounded or oblong, 1-2-seeded. About 200 

 species, in warm regions; 4 in China. (Greek: rhunchos, a beak, from the shape of 

 the keel.) 



1. Rhynchosia volubilis Lour. mB (Lu Ho; Stag Vegetable) (Be.F. 90). Twining 

 vine; fls. white; fr. red, IX-X; seeds black and shining. Japan, Formosa, China; 

 locally in An., Che., Ki., Ku. Brushland, grassland. Fig. 188. 



39. Canavalia DC. 77SJS (Tao Tou Shu) 



Coarse twining (ours) or erect herbs: Ifts. stipellate: fls. rose-colored, bluish or 

 violet; calyx strongly 2-lipped, the upper lip prominent; stamens monadelphous; style 

 beardless: pods large, flat and woody, several-seeded, ribbed on both sides of the upper 

 margin. 15-25 species, in the tropics: 2 in China. (From the Malabar name of one 

 of the species.) 



1. Canavalia ensiformis DC. Jack Bean JlSL (Tao Tou; Knife Bean) (M.F. 258). 

 Twining herb; fls. VI-VII; pod 15cm. long. Introduced from tropical countries; 

 locally in Ki. Cultivated, vegetable. Fig. 189. 



40. Pueraria DC. MM, (Ko Shu) 

 Tivining vines with stipellate Ifts. : ours coarse-hairy and with large woody tuber- 

 ous roots: fls. densely fascicled (in ours), blue or purple, with slender caducous bracts; 

 lower teeth of the calyx prominent; standard auricled at the base; stamens monadel- 

 phous: pods linear, compressed, several-seeded. 12-15 species, in tropical Asia and 

 Malaya; 4 in China. (For M. N. Puerari, a botanist of Geneva.) 



1. Pueraria lobata (Willd.) Ohwi (P. thunbergiana Benth.) Kudzu Vine M (Ko) (R.M. 

 522). Twining vine; fls. purplish red, VII-IX; fr. brown, X. China, Japan; 

 locally in An., Che., Hon., Ki., Ku. Grass- and brush-land. 



Ohwi (Bull. Tokyo Sci. Mus. No. 18:, p. 16, 1947) gives the coriect name and bibliography 

 for this plant which was long ago carefully described and figured by Houttuyn under the name 

 Dolichos trilobus (Houtt. Nat. Hist. II. 10:153, t. 64, f. 1. 1779). This name had already been 

 given by Linnaeus to another plant, so it cannot, under the rules of nomenclature, be used for 

 Houttuyn's plant. Willdenow's valid name under Dolichos, D. lobatus (Willd. Sp. PI. 3 (2): 

 1047. 1803) has been overlooked, perhaps because he erroneously states that the plant came 

 from the Cape of Good Hope, while Houttuyn's original reference tells specifically that the 

 specimen from which the figure was drawn came from Japan. In Panzer's German translation 



195 



