Materials fur a Flora of the Malayan Peninsula. 83 



2 in. in diam. full of white soft pith, quite unarmed as are ihe leaf 

 rachises. Xeaves 4-J2 in. long, sessile, leaflets 10-30 pairs dark-green 

 sparingly hirsute above. Racemes di-ooping 8-12-fld., 4-5 in. long equal- 

 ling or slightly exeeeding the leaves in whose axils they arise. Flowers 

 yellow the standard externally dotted with small purple spots '75 in. 

 Ion*'". Pods 10-12 in. long flexible with strong not indented sutures 

 always pendulous and always twisted. S. gran<Hflora Miq. Flor. Ind. 

 Bat. I, 2S8, not of Pers. S. cochinchinensis Kurz Journ. As. Soc. Beng. 

 XLV, 2, 271, not of DC. S. yunctata'Qentla.. MSS. in Herb. Kew, not 

 of DC. S. aculeata var. paludosa Bak. in Flor. Brit. Ind. II, 115 (in part 

 only and excluding the syn. Aeschynomene uliginosa). Aeschynomene 

 paludosa Roxb. Hort. Beng. 56 ; Mor. Ind. Ill, 333, not S. paludosa Jacq. 

 Kedah ; open marsliy ground near rice-fields, Kunstler 1712! 

 DiSTEiB. Bengal; Burma; Cliina; Java. 



Roxburgh, who knew the Bengal Seshanias well, has left of most of them, 

 under the name of Aeschynomene, unmistakeable descriptions and figures which 

 subsequent Indian botanists have for some reason treated with little consideration. 

 A careful examination of living plants shows, however, that Roxburgh's treatment of 

 the forms is probably accurate, and his views of the limitation of the species are 

 certainly preferable to any that have since been proposed. 



The present species is the familiar Kathsola (as opposed to the true Sola which 

 is Aeschynomene aspera), so common in marshes throughout the Gangetic Delta. 



Though recognised as distinct by Prof. Miquel, that author unfortunately has 

 used a specific name that is pre-occupied in the genus. Mr. Kurz thought it might 

 be Coronilla cochinchinensis Lour, but that species has erect torulose pods and the 

 identification is therefore impossible. Mr. Bentham has suggested its being Besbania 

 'punctata but the pods and the stem strncture forbid this identification also. As 

 Besbania paludosa Jacq. is not this species but is Roxburgh's Aeschynomene uliginosa 

 it seems best to conserve Roxburgh's specific epithet paludosa for the very distinct 

 plant to which he originally applied it. 



Dr. Kuntze (Rev. Gen. Plant. I, 181) would reduce thia to Seshania xgyptiaca ! 

 an excellent instance of the unscientific use of the imagination. 



2. Sesbania cannabina Pers. Synops. II, 316. A tall and slender 

 unarmed woody herb, stems reaching 20 feet in height without exceeding 

 •5 in. in diam. at base. Leaves 2-3 in. long, sessile ; leaflets 8-20 pairs, 

 glabrous, veiy dark green. Eacemes sliort (under I in.) but distinctly 

 peduncled, 2-4-fld. ; flowers yellow, the standard externally closely 

 purple-streaked, '4 in. long. Pods very often solitary rarely more than 

 2, spreading or pendulous rarely erect, 4-8 in. long; sutures stout 

 straigiit, valves not depressed between the seeds. DC. Prodr. II, 265; 

 Miq. Flor. Ind. Bat. II, 286, excluding syn. S. cannabina W. & A. 

 S. affinis Schrad. in DC. Prodr. II, 265. S . polyphylla Miq. Flor. Ind. Bat. 

 II, 288. S. aculeata VAK. cannabina Bak. in Flor. Brit. Ind. II, 115. 

 Aeschynomene cannabina Retz. Obs. V, 26 ; Roxb. Flor. Ind. Ill, 335. 



83 



