STANDLEY I'EEES AND SHRUBS OF MEXICO. 503 



Odonia retusa Rose, Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb, 10: 102. 1906. 



Chihuahua to Jalisco, Chiapas, and Yucatan. Widely distributed in tropical 

 America. 



Plants slender, scandent, sometimes to a height of 3 meters, herbaceous or 

 suffrutescent ; flowers small, purple. 



This has been reported from Mexico as G. tenuiflora Willd. 



7. Galactia argentea T. S. Brandeg. Univ. Calif. Publ. Bot. 6: 181. 1915. 

 Known only from the type locality, Cerro de Picacho, Oaxaca. 



Scandent shrub, densely silvery -sericeous throughout; leaflets oval or ob- 

 long, 2 to 4 cm. long ; flowers purple. 



8. Galactia wrightii A. Gray, PI. Wright. 1: 44. 1852. 

 Galactia tephrodes A. Gray, PL Wright. 2: 34. 18.53. 



Chihuahua and Sonora. Western Texas (type locality) to southern Arizona. 

 Plants slender, scandent, sericeous ; leaflets oblong or elliptic, 2 to 5 cm. 

 long ; fruit about 4.5 cm. long, 4 to 5 mm. wide, pubescent. 



44. CAJANUS DC. Cat. Hort. Monsp. 85. 1813. 

 1. Cajanus indicus Spreng. Syst. Veg. 3:248. 1826. 



Cytisus cajan L. Sp. PI. 739. 1753. 



Cajanus cajan Millsp. Field Mus. Bot. 2: 53. 1900. 



Cultivated in Mexico and sometimes escaping. Native country not certainly 

 known, but perhaps tropical Asia ; widely cultivated and naturalized in tropical 

 regions. 



Erect shrub or herb, 1 to 3 meters high ; leaves pinnately 3-foliolate, the leaf- 

 lets ovate or oblong, 3 to 8 cm. long, acute, puberulent and gland-dotted beneath ; 

 flowers large, yellow, often striped or spotted with red, in short racemes ; fruit 

 oblong-linear, bivalvate, pilose; seeds small, gray or brownish. " Frijol de 

 palo " (Nicaragua, Panama, Costa Rica); " frijolillo " (Costa Rica); " gar- 

 banzo falso " (Nicaragua); " guandti " (Costa Rica, Porto Rico); " gandul," 

 " gandures " (Porto Rico); " timolillo," " quinbolillo " (Costa Rica); " chicha- 

 rros," " quinconcho " (Venezuela) ; "frijol guandus " (Colombia). 



The English name " pigeon-pea " is said to have been given because pigeons 

 are fond of the seeds. The plant is extensively cultivated in some tropical re- 

 gions for its edible seeds, and in India it is said to hold third rank among the 

 leguminous plants cultivated for food. The seeds are eaten either ripe or green. 

 When cultivated the plant is usually treated as an annual, but if not cut it 

 becomes a truly woody shrub. It is often grown for forage, and in Madagascar 

 the leaves have been utilized as food for silkworms. In Bengal the plant has 

 been grown as a hosi; plant for lac insects. The stems are used in Asia for roofs 

 and baskets, and they have been burnt into charcoal for gunpowder. Diuretic, 

 astringent, antidysenteric, detersive, laxative, and vulnerary properties are 

 ascribed to the plant. With regard to the flowers there are two chief varieties, 

 one with yellow petals, the other with the standard purplish outside. 



45. MUCUNA Adans. Fam. PI. 2: 325. 1763. 

 Scandent herbs or shrubs ; leaves pinnate, 3-foliolate ; flowers large, fascicu- 

 late or racemose ; fruit thick ai.;' hard, usually covered with stinging hairs. 

 Some species of the genus are grown extensively as forage plants. 



Fruit with transverse crests 1. M. sloanei. 



Fruit without transverse crests. 

 Fruit 4.5 to 5 cm. wide, flat; leaflets densely lustrous-sericeous beneath. 



2. M. argyrophylla. 

 Fruit less than 2 cm. wide, very thick ; leaflets sparsely sericeous beneath. 



3. M. pruriens. 

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