312 TRANSACTIONS AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE [Sess. ux. 



to L. sativus. Corresponding to some extent in distribution 

 with L. sativus, Cicer is well known in Southern Europe, 

 v/hile upwards of fifty names in the vernacular testify to 

 its popularity in India. It is an annual, varying in height 

 from one to two feet, has several pairs of oval leaflets with 

 toothed edges and generally a terminal leaflet. The flowers 

 are whitish or rose coloured, and as you see from the 

 samples I pass round there are, just as in L. sativus, 

 different varieties of seeds, some dark red coloured and 

 some paler. Duthie and Fuller in their " Field and 

 Garden Crops of India " mention a very large white- 

 grained kind grown as a curiosity. Xo matter the colour 

 the seeds are easily distinguished from those of L. sativits, 

 as they simulate, often very successfully, the appearance of 

 a ram's head, hence the specific name of the plant arietinum 

 (arics, a ram). 



Its Uses. — (A) As food for Man. — Mixed with wheat 

 and barley, in many districts of India it forms the prin- 

 cipal crop of the poorer classes. The seeds are prepared 

 for food in different ways. Sometimes ground into meal 

 for cakes and puddings, or, according to Lindley and 

 Moore, used as a substitute for coffee, and again as common 

 in Paris for soups. The roasted seeds may be mixed with 

 sugar and other ingredients, the whole forming a well- 

 known sweetmeat in India ; or, again, the roasted seeds 

 are carried, to be used as a sustaining food on long 

 journeys. 



The vegetable is known as a medicine in India, although 

 its too frequent use may induce calculi in the bladder in 

 persons predisposed to the disease, owing to the large 

 amount of oxalic acid which is exuded from glandular 

 hairs on leaf and stem. Drury tells us in addition that 

 this exudation is collected by the natives, and used in 

 their curries instead of vinegar. According to ]\Ioore " the 

 boots of a person walking through a dewy grain field will 

 be entirely destroyed by the pungency of the acid given 

 out by the leaves." 



(B) As food for Cattle and Horses. — The plant has con- 

 siderable use as a fodder for cattle, which is often not very 

 palatable owing to its bitter taste, and Duthie speaks of its 

 being injurious as fodder to milch cows. 



