860 XLVIII. LEGrMINOSJC. 



pubescent ; stipules ^- A in. long, linear-lanceolate. Leaflets membranous 

 12-1 G pairs, opposite, |-1| by \-} in., ligulate-oblong, rounded, apicu- 

 late, glabrous above, thinly silky beneath, base rounded ; petiolules 

 very short ; stipels 0. Flowers in many-flowered long-peduncled lax 

 racemes equalling or exceeding the leaves ; rhachis tliickened in fruit : 

 pedicels very short. Calyx ^ in. long, thinly silky. Corolla g in. long, 

 pink or pale blue. Pods 2-2^ by |-4 in., linear, flat, incurved ; valves 

 mooth, thin. Seeds 8-12, "oblong," f^ by ^ in., compressed, black. 

 Fl. B. I. V. 2, p. 175 ; Trim. Fl. Ceyl. v. 2, p. 57 ; Talb. Trees, Bomb, 

 p. 70 ; AVatt, Diet. Econ. Prod. v. 1, p. 10. 



Confined to the southern districts of the Presidency. Ka:*ara: moist forests of 

 N. Knnara, verj common near Karwar and along the coast southwards, Talbot. — 

 DisTRiB. India (E. Bengal, Birma, Sikkim); Ceylon, Malaya, Tropical & S. Africa, 

 S.E. Asia. 



33. LATHYRUS, Linn. 



Annual or perennial herbs. Leaves abruptly-pinnate, the rhachis 

 ending in a tendril or bristle ; stipules foliaceous. Flowers solitary or 

 racemose : bracts caducous, usually minute ; bracteoles 0. Calyx-tube 

 usually oblique at the base ; teeth subequal or the upper shorter. 

 Corolla more or less exserted ; standard broadly ovate or orbicular, 

 emarginate, narrowed into a short claw ; keel shorter than the wings, 

 incurved, obtuse. Stamens diadelphous, the mouth of the staminal- 

 tube not oblique ; anthers uniform. Ovary subsessile or stalked ; ovules 

 many ; style inflexed, bearded on the inner (by the twisting of the style 

 often the outer) face, otherwise glabrous ; stigma capitate. Pod com- 

 pressed or subterete, 2-valved, continuous within, many -seeded. — 

 DisTRiB. Species about 170, spread chiefly throughout the north 

 temperate zone. 



1. Lathynis inconspicuuS) Linn. Sp. PI. (1753) p. 730. An 

 erect branched herb 4-9 in. high ; stems slender, angled, glabrous. 

 Leaves abruptly-pinnate; petioles short, not winged, produced at the 

 apex into a short straiglit linear or lanceolate bristle ; stipules i-J in. 

 long, linear-lanceolate, caudate at the base, veined. Leaflets 2 (rarely 1), 

 subsessile, f-lf by -g— i in., linear-lanceolate, acute, glabrous, con- 

 spicuously nerved beneath. Flowers solitary in the axils of the leaves ; 

 pedicels short. Calyx i in. long, glabrous ; teeth as long as the tube, 

 linear-lanceolate. Corolla 5 in. long, lilac. Pods 1-2 by i in. linear, 

 compressed, shghtly incurved at the apex, thickened at the margins, 

 reticulately veined, glabrous. Fl. B. I. v. 2, p. 180. L. erectus, Boiss, 

 Fl. Orient", v. 2, p. 613. 



Rare. SixD : Stocks, 897 I — Distrib. India (Kashmir, Rawalpindi); Beluchietan, 

 Afghanistan, Syria, Mesopotamia. 



Laihyrus sativus, Linn. Sp. PI. (1753) p. 730, Chickling-vetch, Jarosse, 

 Cresse, is not indigenous, but is sometimes cultivated in the Presidency, 

 more especially in Gujarat and Sind, where it is grown as a cold-season 

 crop. The use of the grain as a food continuously for some months is 

 often found to produce in human beings incurable paralysis of the lower 

 extremities. Fl. B. I. v. 2, p. 179 ; Dalz. & Gibs. Suppl. p. 22 ; Watt, 

 Pict. Econ. Prod. v. 4, p. 590. — A'een. Kasdri; Ldng. 



