Order 42. Leguminoscs. 77 



and Sind (H.)- * & bifaria, prostrate, hairy, leaves sometimes 

 roundish, flowers one or two together, pod ovoid, much swollen. 

 Belganm and Earn Ghaut (D. and (?.). * G. nana. A foot high, hairy 

 and silky, flowers pale yellow, pod ovoid, sessile black. Malwan (D.), 

 Mahableshwar (Coofce). 0. umbellata, D. is included in this, having a 

 dense terminal umbel of flowers and round legumes. Vingrorla and 

 Earn Ghaut (D.). * 0. calycina (0. anthylloides, D.) covered with silky 

 brown hairs, leaves linear or lanceolate, calyx large with long teeth, 

 corolla shorter, pod included in the calyx, 20 to 30-seeded. 

 S. Konkan ; the flowers open in the evening (I).)- * G. lutescens. 

 (C. peduncularis, D.) Erect, tall, smooth, flowers an inch long, distant, 

 standard much veined, pod cylindric oblong. S. Konkan (D.). 

 C. fulva. Stiff, erect, much branched, thickly hairy, calyx large, 

 yellowish, teeth broad, leafy, pod included. Earn Ghaut (-D.). * C. 

 laburnifolia. Erect, smooth, leaves trifoliate, leaflets broad, flowers in 

 long racemes long-stalked, pod cylindrical, many-seeded. S. Konkan 

 (P.). * C. quinquefolia, a tall herb with hollow stems, leaflets 5 linear 

 lanceolate, racemes long, flowers lax. Eice fields, Salsette ( D. and (?.) . 



(6) TRIFOLIEJ;. 



3. TRIGONELLA, 



T. Fcenugrce.cum. Erect, robust, stipules entire, leaflets 

 lanceolate oval or obovate, flowers pretty, pod long, thin, and 

 pointed. Methi. 



Commonly cultivated for bcy'i, as it is also in S, Europe. It was 

 adopted as fodder by the Eomans from the Greeks ; hence the specific 

 name. 



4. MELILOTUS. 



M. parviflora. A small erect delicate plant, leaflets roundish, 

 lanceolate or obovate, stipules linear pointed, flowers pale 

 yellow, very small, pcd nearly round, finely wrinkled. Van 

 metika, jhir. 



Pastures in the cold weather. This and M. alba, which is much 

 larger with white flowers, found in irrigated lands, are European 

 plants, M. officinalis is the English Melilot. 



5. MEDICAGO. 



M. sativa. Stem usually erect, leaflets oblong, flowers some- 

 what racemed, usually purple, pods downy and loosely spiral. 



Purple medick, or lucerne, not wild in India any more than in 

 England, but widely cultivated. 



Hehn says that the name medicago (originally medike poa) shows 

 that the plant came originally from Media, and quotes the following 

 strong eulogy from Columella, a Spanish writer on agriculture in 

 the reign of the Emperor Claudius : "Lucerne once sown lasts ten 

 years ; it is mown four times a year regularly, sometimes six; it does 

 not exhaust the soil, but rather enriches it j it makes lean cattle fat, 



