LEGUMINOSE. 475 
leaves are much used in poultices to promote suppuration. 
orskah! calls the plant Dolichos Saiseban; it is the Saisaban 
the Hgyptians, who use the seeds medicinally on account of - 
their astringent properties. Prosper Alpinus says of these 
eeds :— 
«Et ut uno verbo dicam, in omnibus vacuationibus firman- 
dis illoram seminum usum habent frequentissimum.” Mir 
Muhammad Husain and others who describe the use of the 
eds in India give a similar account of their medicinal pro- 
perties. The generic name of the plant is Persian, and accord- 
called Hab-el-fakd by the Arabs. Here he agrees with Abu 
Hanifeh, who describes o4U1 asa plant which is thrown into 
mead to make it strong, and is called in Persian Fanjangusht, 
On the other hand Ibn Arabi says El] fakd is the Kushuth * 
(<.45) and also a beverage (55) prepared from raisins and 
honey, into which the fakd has been thrown, to cause it to 
become strong. It seems probable that the Fakd of the Arabs 
Was an astringent plant, which was used, like Acacia bark in 
India, for clearing spirituous liquor. 
Description.—Sir W. Jones describes the flowers as 
varying in colour; in some plants, wholly yellow; in others, 
with a blackish-purple awning yellow within, and dark yellow 
Wings tipped with brown; in some with an awning of the 
richest orange-scarlet externally, and internally of a bright 
yellow; wings yellow, of different shades ; and a keel pale 
below, with an exquisite changeable light purple above, striated 
in elegant curves. The leaves are pinnate, 3 to 6 inches long, 
with from 9 to 15 pairs of linear-oblong leaflets. The 
wre oblong, somewhat ki : 
tained in a tomentose pod, 6 to 9 inches in length. a : 
Kushuth is described as a parasitic plant, without 
generally supposed to be a kind of Cuscuta, Dee 
SPicigis 
+ eat ee Mamta Mant Crs 
dney-shaped, and smooth and are con~ — e : 
