b7U XLVIII. LEGlMINOS-t. 



42. SPATHOLOBUS, Hassk. 



Large scaudent shrubs, often tomentose. Leaves pinnately 3-foliolate ; 

 stipules small. Leaflets stipellate. Flowers small, in ample terminal 

 panicles extending into the axils of the upper leaves ; pedicels densely- 

 fascicled at the tumid nodes ; bracts and bracteoles small. Calyx cam- 

 panulate, the 2 upper teeth connate into 1 ejitire or emargiuate tooth. 

 Corolla exserted ; petals subequal ; keel obtuse, nearly straiglit. Stamens 

 diadelplious ; anthers uniform. Ovary sessile or stalked ; ovules 2 ; 

 style incurved, beardless ; stigma capitate. Pod sessile or stalked, 

 broadly linear, often falcate, splittiug round the single apical seed, the 

 lowest part indehiscent. — Disxbib. Tropical Asia ; 1 species in Tropical 

 Africa ; species lU. 



Pod tomentose, stalked 1. S. Boxburghil. 



Pod glabrous, sessile 2. S. purpiircus. 



L Spatholobus Roxburghii, Benth. PL Jumjh. (1851-55) p. 238. 

 A large climber ; stem as thick as a man's leg ; young branches clothed 

 with soft downy pubescence. Leaves 3-foliolate ; petioles 3-G in. long, 

 puberulous ; stipules small, deciduous. Leaflets subcoriaceous, (5-8 by 

 4-5^ iu. (the terminal equal-sided, broadly elliptic or rhouiboid-obovate 

 narrov\ed at the base, the lateral leaflets inequilateral, the lower side 

 much the larger and obtuse or truncate at the base, the upper side 

 acute at the base), obtuse, subacute or shortly acuminate, glabrous above, 

 finely silky or subglabrous beueath ; main nerves U-8 pairs, slender, 

 conspicuous on the underside ; petiolules ^ in. long ; stipels minute 

 subulate. Flowers in large termuial densely pubescent panicles often 

 reaching 12-18 in, long; pedicels 77V in- loiig? in close fascicles along 

 the rhaehis ; bracteoles | in. long, linear, velvety. Calyx ^ in. long, 

 velvety ; teeth subequal in length, about equalling the tube, the 2 upper 

 connate (except at the tip) into an oblong-triangular tooth, the 3 lower 

 teeth lanceolate. Corolla brigiit red, exserted. Pods stalked, 3-G in. 

 long, usually 1-1 j in. (sometimes reaching 2 in.) broad, equal in breadth 

 or narrowed towards the top, the lower side more or less curved, clothed 

 with ferruginous tomentum (which is thickest at the apex above the 

 solitary seed), reticiUately veined ; stalk about ^ in. long. Pi. B, I. v. 2, 

 p. 193 ; Talb. Trees, Bomb. p. 71 ; Woodr. in Jom-n. Bomb. iSat. v. 11 

 (1897) p. 424 : Watt, Diet. Econ. Prod. v. 0, part 3, p. 3]!J. Butea 

 j^KirvlJlora, Roxb. liort. Beug. p. 53; Grab. Cat. p. 54; Dalz. & Gibs, 

 p. 71; Wight, Icon. t. 210. — Flowers : Jan.-Feb. Vebn. Phalsan. 



KoNKAN : Stocks ! ; Mira hills near Pen and hilly places S. of Panwell, DuLell Jj- 

 Gibson ; N:\gotna, Grahuiu. Deciax : Peiut and Pbaltan, Woodrow. Kanaka : 

 throughout the forests of JN. Kanara, Talbot. 



This climber does mucli damage to teak and other timber-trees in N. Kanara (^rtZioi"). 



The variety platymrpus (Baker, in Fl. B. I. 1. c.) with broad pods conspicuously 

 narrowed at the apex cannot be uiainUiined. Prain (Journ. As. Soc. Beng. v. G6 

 [18'i)8] p. 412) points out tliat there is no difference between the j)lants bearing the 

 broad and the narrower pods and that it is, at times, possible to collect both 

 " varieties " on different parts of one plant. 



2. Spatholobus purpureus, Benth. ex Baker, in Hool: f. Fl. B. I. 

 V. 2 (187(3) p. 1K4. A lofty climber. Leaves 3-foliolate ; petioles 

 li_H iu. long ; stipules small, caducous. Leaflets subcoriaceous, 3-5 by 

 1|— 2^ iu. (the terminal the largest and equilateral, the lateral unequal- 



