364 XLTIII. LEGUMINOS.'E. 



Vae. mo?7ts, Baker, in Hook. f. Fl. B. I. v. 2, p. 184. Stems with 

 longer and more spreading hairs. LeaHets densely pubescent beneath. 

 Calyx-teeth shorter than the tube. Pods densely hairy. Glycine mollis 

 (sp.), Wight & Arn. Prodr. p. 209. Terammis mollis (sp.), Benth. in 

 Journ. Linn. Soe. v. 8 (1865) p. 265. 



KoNKAN : Dahell ! S. M. Country : Parva Ghdt, Eitchie, 1043 ! 



38. MUCUNA, Adans. 



Twining perennials and annuals. Leaves pinnately 3-foliolate ; 

 stipules deciduous. Leaflets usually stipellate. Flowers racemose or 

 corymbose, purple or greenish-yellow, turning black when dried ; bracts 

 small or caducous. Calyx-tube campanulate, the 2 upper teeth entirely 

 connate, the lowest tooth longer than the others. Corolla much ex- 

 serted; standard more than half as long as the rostrate keel, which 

 usually slightly exceeds the wings. Stamens diadelphous ; anthers 

 dimorphous. Ovary sessile; ovules many; style filiform, beardless; stigma 

 capitate. Pod very variable in shape and sculpture, usually clothed with 

 brittle irritant fine bristles. — Disteib. Throughout the Tropics ; species 

 about 30. 



Perennials. 



Pod winged on the sutures. 



Pod transversely plaited on the faces. 



Pod nearly as broad as long, 1 -seeded 1. M. monosperma. 



Pod twice as long as broad, 2-seeded 2. M. atropurpurea . 



Pod not transversely plaited on the faces '. . . . 3. M. gigantea. 



Annual. Pod neither winged nor transversely plaited 4. M. pruriens. 



1. Mucuna monosperma, DC. Prodr. \. 2 (1825) p. 406. A large 

 woody perennial twiner ; young branches clothed with rusty brown 

 deciduous tomentum. Leaves 6-9 in. long; petioles 3-4^ in. long; 

 stipules I in. long, linear, deciduous. Leaflets 2|-4 by 2-3 in., thinly 

 coriaceous, ovate-oblong or elliptic, shortly acuminate (the lateral leaflets 

 inequilateral, the lower side the largest), glabrous above, more or less 

 pubescent beneath, base rounded. Flowers in 6-12-flowered corymbose 

 axillary racemes shorter than the leaves ; peduncles variable in length, 

 i-2^ in. long : pedicels ^-| in. long ; bracts small, triangular, ^ in. long, 

 deciduous ; bracteoles f in. long, linear-lanceolate. Calyx § in. long, 

 clothed with irritant bristles ; teeth about half as long as the tube, the 

 upper truncate, the lateral deltoid, the lower linear. Corolla 1^ in. 

 long, purple; keel abruptly inflexed at the tip. Pods 2-3 by 2-|- in. 

 (nearly as broad as long), winged on both sutures and obliquely plaited 

 on the faces, covered with brown deciduous irritant bristles. Seed 

 solitary, nearly circular in horizontal cross section, slightly compressed, 

 dark brown, smooth, shining ; hilum linear, extending round three- 

 fourths of the edge. Fl. B. I. v. 2, p. 185 ; Grab. Cat. p. 53 ; Dalz. & 

 Gibs. p. 70 ; Trim. Fl. Ceyl. v. 2, p. 61 ; Talb. Trees, Bomb. p. 70 ; 

 Woodr. in Journ. Bomb. Nat. v. 11 (1897) p. 424; Watt, Diet. Econ. 

 Prod. V. 5, p. 285. — Flowers : Nov.-Jan. 



KoNKAN : Law], Stocks] S. SI. Countky : Kala n&ddi, Eitchie, 1714:; Eamghdt, 

 Lalzell 4' frifooM.— DisTRiB. India (E. Himalayas, Khasia, Assam, Chittagong, W. 

 Peninsula); Ceylon. 



The seed is known as the Negro Bean and is .said to be used by the Brahuiins as a 

 restorative. See Watt, Dust. Econ. Prod. 1. c. 



