416 LEGUMINOS 4, 
in Western India. %, purpurea is a common weed in the 
rainy season; the whole plant is pulled up when in flower and — 
seed, and tied in bundles of about a handful for sale. In 
Pudukota the juice of the leaves of T. villosa (Vaykkavalai 
in Tamil) is given in dropsy, In America the roots of 7. 
virginiana, Pers., are considered to be laxative, tonic and 
vermifuge, and have also been reported to be useful in typhoid 
fever ; a decoction made with an ounce of the plant to a pint of 
water and boiled down to one half, has been used in doses of one 
to two tablespoonfuls. (Stillé and Maisch.) 
Description.—A shrubby, erect, much-branched plant 
about 2 feet high; leaves pinnated ; leaflets 5 to 9 pairs with an 
odd one, the largest an inch long, and 3-10th of an inch broad, 
cuneate oblong ; racemes peduncled, longer than the leaves; — 
legumes slightly compressed, spreading, linear falcate, obtuse, 
with a short point; seeds 4 to 6 in each pod, small, kidney- 
shaped; testa mottled; cotyledons yellow. All parts of the — 
plant are slightly bitter. 
Chemical composition.—The whole plant, with seeds, pods, — 
but no roots, dried by exposure to air and reduced to fine 
powder, lost 8°44 per cent, when heated to 100° C. The ash — 
amounted to 6°07 per cent., and contained a trace of manganese. — 
The petrolenm ether extract amounted to 2°88 per cent., and — 
consisted of chlorophyll, a resin and a trace of wax, Ether 
extracted 1°05 per cent., the extract consisted chiefly ofa brown 
resin and chlorophyll, ‘Treated with dilute hydrochloric acid a 
trace was dissolved. No reactions were afforded by alkaloidal © 
reagents. 3 
The absolute alcohol extract amounted to 2°36 per cent.,on 
Spontaneous evaporation vellowish nodules separated; these — 
were washed with cold alcohol, and then dissolved by boiling 
alcohol. On evaporation, a sulphur-yellow powder and crusts 
separated, which examined microscopically, consisted of 
. needle-shaped crystals. These crystals were soluble in boiling 
orice gave @ green colouration in an aqueous solut 
D water, but practically insoluble in cold water, alcohol or ether 5 
