338 ICY. PEDALTACE^. 



taste, color, or odor of tlie liquid. The mueil.iginous liquid is taken as a remedy 

 for gonorrlia-a and d^suria and is said to dissolve calculi. See Walt, Diet. Econ. 

 Prod. 1. c. 



2. SESAMUM, Lian. 



Erect or prostrate herbs. Leaves op23osite below, alternate above, 

 entire, toothed, lobed or divided. Flowers axillary, solitary or few and 

 fascicled, shortly pedicellate. Calyx small, o-partite. Corolla 2-lipped ; 

 tube ventricose; lobes rounded, those of the upper lip usually rather 

 smaller than the others. Stamens 4, didynamous, included ; anthers 

 sagittate, the cells subparallel, distinct. Ovary 2-celled, the cells each 

 soon divided into 2 chambers by the intrusion of a false dissepiment 

 from between the placentas ; ovules numerous, 1-seriate in each 

 chamber ; style filiform ; stigma 2-lobed. Capsule oblong or ovoid, 

 usually 4-angled and 4-grooved, loculicidally 2-valved, 4-ehambered. 

 Seeds many, obliquely oblong, somewhat compressed, foveolate. — 

 DiSTRiB. India, Tropical and S. Africa ; species 10. 



1. Sesamum laciniatum, Klein, ex Willd. /S)). Fl. v. 3 (1800) 

 p. 359. A prostrate herb 1-3 it. ; stems and branches gi'ooved, sparsely 

 hair}'' with long soft white hairs. Leaves |-lg in. long, nearly as broad 

 as long, orbicular or elliptic in outline, variously lobed and laciniate, 

 sparsely hairy above, hairy on the nerves and clothed beneath with a 

 white somewhat mealy tomeutum ; petioles 0-1 i)i. long. Flowers 

 solitary, axillary ; pedicels ^ in. long. Calyx 5 in. long, deeply divided, 

 hairy outside ; segments linear, | in. long, strongly ciliate. Corolla 

 1-1| in. long, tubular-ventricose, minutely pubescent outside, purple, 

 with a yellow palate (Clarke). Capsules § by 5 in., scabrous-pilose, 

 2-valved, oblong, compressed, rounded and strongly mucronate at the 

 apex. Seeds ^4 by ^^j in., obovoid-oblong, foveolate, glabrous. Fl. B. 

 1. V. 4, p. 387 ; Wight, Icon. t. 1345 ; Woodr. in Journ. Bomb. Nat. 

 V. 12 (1899) p. 354.— Flowers : Sept.-Oct. 



Eare. S. M. Country ; Badami, Cooke I, Woodrowl; Gokak, Bitchic, 1885 I — Distuib. 

 India (W. Peninsula). 



Sesamum incUcum, Linn. Sp. PI. (1753) p. 634. An annual, largely 

 cultivated throughout India for the oil furnished by its seeds. It is 

 probably a native of Tropical Africa, but its original habitat is not 

 known with certainty. It has been cultivated in India from a very 

 remote period, and is grown in many of the tropical regions of the 

 world. The plant is usually about 2 ft. high ; stem erect with long 

 ascending branches from the base. Upper leaves lanceolate, entire, 

 the lower often cut at the base into 2 or more serrate segments, glabrous 

 above, puberulous beneath. Flowers pinkish-iiurple, ill-smelling; 

 corolla pubescent outside. Capsules |-1 in. long, bluntly quadrangular, 

 shortly beaked, pubescent ; valves separating J-way down, gaping. 

 Seeds oblong, slightly compressed, glabrous, black or white. The seed 

 is known in commerce as GingcUy or Sesame and is exported largely 

 from India, the exports in 1883-84 reaching upwards of 140,000 tons, 

 of which more than 100,000 tons were consigned to France. The plant 

 is known in the Bombay Presidency by the native name of Til, and the 

 seeds are of two kinds, the black (Kdla-til) and the white {Safed-iil), 



