Order 42. Leguminosa. 87 



(/) PHASEOLEJE. 



Note. The leaflets are three, except when otherwise stated. 



24. SHUTERIA. 



8. vestita. Small and slender, very hairy, leaflets roundish, 

 flowers very small, purplish, in dense racemes, pod long with a 

 rigid turned-up point, 5 or 6-seeded. 



The flowers have the mouth closed, like Snapdragon. 3. Konkan, 

 Deccan, Bombay. Ghauts (D.). 



25. MUCUNA. 



M. pruriens. Hairy, twining, leaflets ovate, unequal-sided, 

 flowers large, lurid purple in drooping racemes, pod curved into 

 the shape (more or less) of S, 5 or 6-seeded. Kawaj, Kuhili, 

 Kuyeri. 



Common in hedges. From the Himalayas to Ceylon (H.). The pods 

 are disagreeable to touch owing to the stinging hairs. H. says that 

 a variety with velvety pod is cultivated. The seed is called donkey's 

 eye. 



*M. monosperma, a woody climber, racemes of 6 to 12 flowers 

 similar to this, pods 3 inches long, half oval, much wrinkled and 

 bristly. Moti Kuhili. G. mentions this as cultivated under the name 

 of Negro bean. 



26. ERYTHRINA. 



]. Indica. Indian coral tree. Bark light and greenish, 

 prickles black, petioles very long, leaflets smooth, more or less 

 cordate, flowers large, bright scarlet in racemes, pod several 

 inches long, black when ripe, very protuberant at the seeds, and 

 with a hooked point. Seeds large, smooth, dark-red. Pdngara, 

 Mdnddr. 



Very common, especially in the Konkans. A white flowered 

 variety is said to grow in Salsette. 



The flowers appear when the tree is bare, which it is for several 

 months in the year. In Java, coffee is cultivated under its shade 

 (Forbes}. In Trinidad, where " it blazes against the blue sky with 

 vermilion flowers," it is called " Bois immortelle" (Kinysley). In 

 Ceylon it is planted for fences. 



*E. stricta, like the last, but prickles white, flowers smaller, pod 

 lance-shaped, slightly protuberant. S. Konkan (D.). Ghauts (G.). E. 

 suberosa, often without thorns, flowers smaller and lighter than 

 E. Indica, and pod more like the last. N. Konkan, not common. 

 Ghauts, Khandesh and Guzerat (D.). 



