Liberia <♦' 



hard wood, and decoctions of the pods are used as a drastic 

 purgative. 



Ormocarpum verrucosum, Beauv. : a glabrous tree or shrub with simple 

 papery ovate leaves, 3 — 4 in. by i| — 2 in., small scanty racemes 

 of white red-veined papilionaceous flowers, J in. long, and 2—5- 

 jointcd pods, the joints with longitudinal ribs and scattered 

 tubercles ; near water at Grand Basa, l^age/, 103 ! ; Monrovia, 

 W/ijte ! 



Stylosanthes erecta, Brauv. : a much-branched stiff hairy shrub with 

 prominently nerved 3foliolate leaves, J — | in. long, and in- 

 conspicuous often apetalous flowers, covered by rigid reticulate 

 hirsute bracts in oblong terminal or subterminal heads ; Grand 

 Basa, covering large patches of ground, I'o^'e/, 56 ! Cape Paimas, 

 Vo^e/, 5 ! 



AracMs hypogaea, L. : a diffuse herb with 4-folioIatc leaves and 

 solitary axillary papilionaceous flowers, only the lower ones 

 fertile, the pods ripening under ground (hence the name " Ground 

 Nut "), a native of Brazil, cultivated in Liberia, according to 

 Vogel. — Cultivated throughout the tropics for the seeds, which 

 are used as food, and for the extraction of oil. 



Desmodium lasiocarpum, DC. : a more or less rusty hairy shrub or 

 undershrub with simple ovate leaves, very slender usually 

 spikelike often panicled racemes of small pinkish or purplish 

 papilionaceous flowers and 5 — 6-articulate tomentose pods more 

 or less cohering by their hairs ; Kakatovvn, IVkyU ! 



D. incanum, DC. : a weed, downy in the upper part, with 3-foliolate 

 leaves (the terminal leaflet up to 4 in. long), loose racemes of 

 reddish papilionaceous flowers, ^ in. long, and 5 — 8-jointed hairy 

 pods deeply constricted between the joints from one side, i in. 

 by J in. ; by the roadside in Monrovia, Naumann. 



D. mauritanicnm, DC. : an erect low herb, vei)' similar to the pre- 

 ceding, but with smaller leaflets (the terminal up to i in. long), 

 and purple flowers ; Kakatown, Whyte ! ; Grand Basa, Vogel, 

 48 ! ; Cape Palma.s, Anselll 



D. paleacenm, Guill. and Perr. : an undershrub with 3-foliate leaves, 

 lanceolate to linear-oblong leaflets, shining above, and 3 — 4 in. 

 by \ — I in., long dense more or less panicled spikelike tufted 

 racemes of small rose-coloured papilionaceous flowers and 5 — 7- 

 articulate linear dark pods ; Kakatown, Whytc ! 



594 



