Mater iah for a Flora of the MaJnyan Peninsula. 145 



joints 6-8 stoiiMsh coriaceous, 25 m. long -3 in. wide, quite glabrous, 

 poli«hed. B. triquetrum Bak. in Flor. Brit. Ind. II, 163 in part, not of 

 DC. Fteroloma anriculatum Miq. Flcr. Ind. Bat. I, 258. 



Andamans; coasts of Great Coco, Prain! of South Andaman, Play- 

 fair! Kurz ! Prain! Distiub. Indo-Cliina; Malay Archipelago. 



Though common in Tenasserim where it has been collected by Wallicli (n. 5788 

 M !) and Heifer (n. 164S !) as well as in Mergni where ifc lias been obtained by- 

 Griffith (n. 568!) and Proudlock (n. l-t!j, this is not present in Calcutta from any 

 locality within the Straits Settlements. It is rather more closely related to Desmo- 

 diiim alatuin, which has broader pods, than to the preceding species, but it is cqnally 

 distinct from both. It appears to be an almost exclusively littoral form; there are 

 however two inland gatherings at Calcutta, both from Silhet and both collected by 

 Mr. Clarke (n. 14352! and n. 42702!). 



It should be noted that IFedysar um alatum Roxb. is not the species described by 

 De Candolle as Desmodium ulatum ; Kox_burgh's If. alatum is exactly equivalent to 

 hinna^n^ ff^^M'iqu^itwn. Roxburgh's H. tririicetrum on the other hand is not 

 Linnaeus' plant but is Beamo'lium jtsexido-trir^uetnini DC, a species confined to 

 Northern India, the lower Himalayan slopes, and the mountains of Assam. D. aU- 

 tum DC, the plant with broad pods described in the Prodromus, occurs in Khasia, 

 Cachar and Chittagong without appearing in India proper or in Burma and the 

 Malay Peninsula ; it recurs, however, in Java. Tlie present species, D. auriculatum, 

 has not been found in Java but is met with again in Timor. 



SuBGEX. 6. Plkurolobium DC. Erect undershrubs, with larire 

 leaves. Flowers racemose ; pods indistinctly jointed, dehiscing in a con- 

 tinuous line along tlie ventral suture. 



16. Desmodium gyroides DC. Prodr. II, 316. A shrub about 10 

 feet high with terete sparsely pubescent branches. Leaves 2*5-3 in. lono 

 3- or often only l-foliolate, petiole *75 in. long, slender glabrescent ; 

 leaflets membranous, oblong or ovate-oblong obtuse, pale-green glabious 

 above, very thinly adpressed-pubescent beneath, J '75-2 in. long, 1-1*25 

 in. wide, lateral nerves 6-8 pairs visible beneath; lateral leaflets if 

 present similar but much smaller, '5 in. long, '4 in. wide. Inflorescence 

 in dense axillary and terminal at first strobilate racemes, with large 

 imbricating scarious soon deciduous ovate-acute bracts, '25 in. long •£ in. 

 wide, pedicels finely-pubescent ab length patent, '25 in. long. Calyx 1 

 in., wide-campanulate, teeth triangular half as long as tube. Corolla '35 

 in. long, '2 in. across, purple. Pod 1-15 in. long, 2 in. wide, falcate ; 

 joints 6-10, dehiscing along the lower slightly indented suture but not 

 separating from each other, copiously pubescent with a felted rusty 

 tomentum. Wall. Cat. 5728 ; W. & A. Prodr. 227 ; Miq. Flor. Ind. Bat. 

 I, 2.13 ; Bak. in Flor. Brit. Ind. II, 175. B. pseiidogyroides Miq. Flor. 

 Ind. Bat. I, 244. Hedysarum gyroides Uoxb. Hort. Beng. 57. Codnrio- 

 calyx gyroides Hassk. Flor. (1842) Beiblatt. IT, 49. 0. conicus Hassk. 

 in Walp. Rep. I, 744. Pneudarthria polycarpa Hassk. PI. Jav. Bar. 393. 



145 



