504 CONTBIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL. HERBAEIUM. 



1. Mucuna sloanei Fawe. & Rendle, Journ. Bot. Brit. & For. 55: 36. 1917. 

 MichoacSn and Guerrero to Veracruz and Oaxaca. Tropical America and west- 

 ern Africa. 



Scandent shrub or lierb ; leaflets about 9 cm. long, silvery-sericeous beneath ; 

 flowers large, yellow ; fruit 4 to 5 cm. wide, densely covered with bristly hairs ; 

 seeds subglobose, dark brownish gray, 2.5 cm. in diameter. " Pica-pica " 

 (Oaxaca, Veracruz) ; " ojo de venado " (Guerrero, Veracruz, Oaxaca, Panama) ; 

 " ojo de borrico " (Veracruz) ; " ojo de buey " (Oaxaca, Porto Rico) ; " matos del 

 monte," "matos" (Porto Rico). 



The seeds were eaten by the Caribs of the West Indies, and were formerly used 

 in Jamaica for the manufacture of buttons and snuff-boxes. In Mexico they are 

 sometimes worn as amulets. They are said also to be purgative and diuretic. 

 The leaves are reported to yield a black dye. The hairs of the pods cause intense 

 irritation when in contact with the skin. Formerly these hairs, like those of 

 M. pruriens, mixed with molasses, formed a mixture of wide usage, administered 

 internally, for the destruction of intestinal parasites in man. The hairs are 

 softened by soalving in molasses, and are said to have no injurious effect upon the 

 lining of the alimentary canal. 



This is probably the plant reported from Mexico by Sess§ and Mocino ^ as 

 Dolichos altissimus. 



2. Mucuna argyrophylla Standi., sp. nov. 



Chiapas and Oaxaca; type from Ocuilapa. Chiapas (Nelson 3060; U. S. Nat. 

 Herb. no. 234283). 



Young branches densely appressed-pilose ; petioles slender, 6.5 to 10 cm. long, 

 the petiolules 5 to 8 mm. long; leafllets S.5 to 16 cm. long, 5.5 to 10 cm. wide, ab- 

 ruptly short-acuminate at apex, the terminal one broadly elliptic-oval or 

 rounded-oval, rounded at the base, the lateral ones usually smaller, oblique, 

 very unequal at base, the leaflets thin, hispidulous on the upper surface, be- 

 neath densely silvery-sericeous with lustrous hairs; peduncles often 50 cm. 

 long or longer, slender, the racemes dense, 2.5 to 6.5 cm. long, the pedicels re- 

 curved, 4 to 5 cm. long; calyx about 12 mm. long and broad, densely sericeous, 

 the teeth very short, obtuse; standard petal 2 cm. wide (when flattened out), 

 the blade 2 cm. long, the claw 5 mm. long ; wings about as long as the standard, 

 7 to 8 mm. wide ; keel 4.5 cm. long, about 1 cm. wide, rounded at apex ; fruit 

 about 20 cm. long and 4.5 cm. wide, 2 to 4-seeded, densely hispid with short 

 brown hairs, sessile, the valves thin, smooth. 



3. Mucuna pruriens (L.) DC. Prodr. 2: 405. 1825. 

 Dolichos pruriens L. Syst. Nat. ed. 10. 2: 1162. 1750. 



Veracruz. Widely distributed in the tropics of both hemispheres. 



Scandent or procumbent shrub or herb ; flowers dark purple, in pendent 

 racemes ; fruit 7 to 10 cm. long, very densely covered with stinging hairs ; seeds 

 small, blackish brown. "Pica-pica" (Veracruz, Costa Rica, Cuba); " guzano 

 de pica-pica" (Nicai'agua). 



The English names are "cowage " and " cowitch." In India the powdered 

 seeds are said to be used as an aphrodisiac, and the green seeds are cooked and 

 eaten. The seeds are said to be used sometimes as a substitute for coffee. 



46. BRADBURYA Raf. Fl. Ludov. 104. 1817. 



Plants scandent, herbaceous or suffrutescent ; leaves pinnate, 3-foliolate, or 

 sometimes unifoliolate ; flowers large, showy, the axillary peduncles with one or 

 more flowers ; fruit linear, bivalvate. 



One or two herbaceous species also occur in Mexico. 



* PI. Nov. Hisp. 117. 1887. 



