12. Mccuna.] 43. PAP1LI0NACEJE. [13. Ebttheina. 



produced and rounded, Petioles often 10". Racemes usually elongate. 

 Pod curved at the ends. 



Various medicinal virtues are ascribed to the plant, some probably 

 imaginary. Campbell states that the root is given for delirium in fever 

 and that a paste made from the powdered root is applied for dropsy. 

 The hairs of the pods are anthelmintic and were at one time included 

 in the British Pharmacopoeia. Both the root and seeds are included in 

 the Hindu Materia Medica. An intoxicating liquor "Khasuna" is 

 said to be prepared from the plant in Palamau. 



The following appear to me to be only varieties of M. 

 pruriens : — 



a. M. utilis, Wall. Alkushi, Beng. A cultivated variety 

 with a black velvety pod vvhich (like M. pruriens) is eaten as 

 a vegetable when young. "In badly grown plants the 

 racemes are often short and few- flowered, sometimes only 

 1-2-fld." Prain. Chota Nagpur, Train. 



d. M. nivea, D.G. Khamach, Beng. Cultivated in Ch. 

 Nagpur, Wood. Fls. white. 



y> M. Capitata, W. Sf A. The flowers are usually in 

 short-ped uncled few-flowered corymbs and the pod is 5-6* 

 long, with the bristles much shorter than in M. pruriens. 

 The leaves also are glabrescent. Prain (" Some additional 

 Leguminosse ") says : — " The racemes of thi3 are hot always 

 short, nor are the racemes of M. pruriens always elongate ; 

 the species are only distinguishable by their pods." Ch. 

 Nagpur, Train. 



13. Erythrina, L. 



Trees or (resupinata) undershrubs with large showy 

 scarlet flowers in dense racemes, usually produced before the 

 large 3-fol. stipellate leaves. Calyx spathaceous, campanulate 

 or turbinate, oblique or 2-lipped, when spathaceous spliting to 

 the level of the thickened disc. Petals very unequal, stand- 

 ard usually narrow and far exceeding the other petals 

 Upper st. nearly free or connate half-way up . Ovary stipitate 



325 



