Phnseolus. diadklphia dkg.wdria. 293 



cordate, the tcnniiml one rhomb-cordate. Petioles often as 

 long as the leaflets, channelled. Slipules of the petioles ad- 

 joining, ovate- cordate, pointed at both ends, ciliate; those of 

 the leaflets narrow-lanced, ending- in a l)ristle. Peduncles 

 axillary or terminal, when terminal they are often, in luxuriant 

 plants compound, erect, round, shorter than fh(> petioles, 

 ending- in an enlarged, cylindric, glandular, flower-bearing- 

 head, liracles one to each pedicel, and t« o pressing on the 

 calyx, they are all lanceolate, concave and falling. Floioers 

 numerous, sub sessile, pretty large, of a dirty greenish yellow. 

 Cahfx pretty smooth ; upper segment broad, emarg-inate, the 

 under one twice as large, and pointed. Banner broad, emar- 

 ginate. Wings, the right one, when the flower is held from 

 the person looking at it, and the calyx towards him, is with 

 the keel twisted to the left. Keel on the left side, when the 

 flower is held as above; there is a horn near the base, as in 

 Indiijojeru, but here it is on one side only. Legumes cylin- 

 dric, spreading-, about two inches and a half long, very hairy, 

 pointed, ^eer/s small, from ten to fifteen, sub-cylindric, sepa- 

 rated by thin membranaceous partitions. 



There are a great variety of plants; culniij'erous and legu- 

 niinous, cultivated over India, under the general name of dry, 

 or small grain, because they require very little water, at least 

 much less than rice, which is called the great crop. Why we 

 also call them small grain, I cannot say, unless it is because 

 the quantity cultivated is small, in proportion to that of rice. 

 When the usual rains fail, which is too often the case, famine 

 is generally the consequence ; for, as rice is a water plant, it 

 requires to be constantly flooded to make it productive. In 

 the Northern Circars, the present year is the second, a most 

 uncommon event, in which the periodical rains have almost 

 entirely failed ; not more than one fourth the usual quantity 

 having fallen, viz. about fifteen inches each year instead of 

 sixty. It is during- such times that these different sorts of dry 

 or small grains become the most serious objects of their far- 

 mer's attention, for on them depend the lives of thousands. 



