CAJANUS 



INDICUS 



Arhar 



THE PIGEON-PEA 



H. G. Leveson, 6 ; B. B. Sule, 5 ; Notes on Dyes by Conserv. For. E. Girc. Burma, 

 1896 ; Liotard, Memo. Dyes, 24-6 ; Talbot, List Trees, etc., 141 ; Rec Bot. Surv. 

 2nd., ii. (Plants, Chota Nagpur), 99.] 



D.E.P., 

 ii., 12-5. 

 Pigeon-pea. 



Origin. 



Wild in Africa. 



Varieties. 



Bush with 



Yellow-purple 



Flowers. 



Angola Pea. 



Herbaceous 

 with Yellow 

 Flowers. 

 No-eye Pea. 



Crops. 



Intermediate 

 Form. 



CAJANUS INDICUS, Spreng. ; Fl Br. Ind., ii., 217 ; LEGUMI- 

 NOS^E. The Pigeon-pea, Embrevade, Pois d'Angole, Cytise des Indes, etc., 

 dal, cadjan, tuvar (tuver), tur, thor, arhar (or arar, oror), rdhar dal, lahar, 

 oroha, gela-mdh, togari, Jcanalu, 'peh-yen-khyung , etc., etc. 



History. The pigeon-pea would seem to have been introduced into the West 

 Indies (Grisebach, Fl. Br. West Ind., 191) and to America from Africa, and 

 apparently through the slave trade. It has been long cultivated in India, 

 but nevertheless no Indian botanist has recorded having found it wild, or 

 even naturalised, so that there would seem little doubt that in India it is an 

 introduced plant. It is not mentioned in any of the early Sanskrit works. 

 In Rheede's time (1686) it was regularly cultivated in Malabar, and bore 

 practically the same vernacular names as at the present day. On the other 

 hand, several travellers mention having found it wild in Africa. Schwein- 

 furth, according to Jumelle (Les Cult. Colon., 1901, 128), for example, dis- 

 covered it wild in the region of the Upper Nile. Welwitsch (Cat. Af. PI., i., 

 pt. i., 266) speaks of it as cultivated and wild in the coast districts of 

 Angola its vernacular name being jinsonge or quinsonge. Loureiro makes 

 mention of it as both cultivated and wild in China and Cochin-China, but as 

 opposed to that view Bretschneider does not allude to it as having been known 

 to the ancient Chinese scholars. Seemann speaks of it as introduced into Fiji 

 by the missionaries. In Madagascar it is an important and apparently very 

 anciently cultivated plant. 



Varieties and Eaces. There are two forms of this well-known pea, which by 

 some authors have been viewed as species. They are apparently of independent 

 economic value and hence may be here separately indicated : 



C. bicolor, DC. ; Sloane, Hist. Jam., 1725, ii., 31 ; Burmann, Thes. 

 Zeyl., 1736, 86, t. 37 ; Hughes, Hist. Barbados, 1750, 199, t. 19 ; Cytisus 

 pseudocajan, Jacq., Hort. Bot. Vind., 1770, i., 54, t. 119; C. Cajan, Tussac, FL 

 des Antil., 1827, 4, 94, t. 32 ; Cytisus Cajan, Descourt., Fl. Pittor. et Med. des 

 Antil., 1827, iv., 221, pi. 280 ; Bot. Reg., 1845, xxxi., t. 31 ; Duthie and Fuller, 

 Field and Garden Crops, 1882, ii., 20, t. 34. This might be described as a large 

 bush, 6 to 8 feet in height, according to Roxburgh, with a circumference of 

 20 feet around the extremities of its branches in other words, twice the size 

 of the next form. The flowers are yellow streaked with purple, and there are four 

 to five seeds in the pods, which are also marked with dark streaks. Roxburgh 

 (the author from whom most recent writers have compiled) tells us that it is 

 commonly sown with the first rains in June, ripens its main crop in about nine 

 months, and yields 600-fold. It is in reality a perennial, but from its yielding 

 a poor second crop, is in India usually treated as an annual. In the West Indies 

 this is called Congo or Angola pea, and in India it is best known by the name 

 arhar. 



C. flavus, DO. ; Rheede, Hort. Mai., 1686, vi., 23, t. 13 ; Plukenet, 

 Aim., 1696, ii., 293, Phyt., 213, f. 3 ; Rumphius, Herb. Amb., 1750, v., 377, t. 135, 

 f. 2 ; Duthie and Fuller, I.e. 20, t. 33. This is a much smaller plant than the 

 preceding. It has been described as having perfectly yellow flowers, and usually 

 only two or three seeds in the pods, which are never spotted. It is known in the 

 West Indies as the no-eye pea and in India as thur or tuver. According to Rox- 

 burgh it is sown in September, occupies the soil as a rule for only three months, 

 and yields 100-fold. 



Rabi and Kharif. The recognition of these plants as distinct crops can hardly 

 be viewed as having received in India the attention that the subject deserves. 

 They practically correspond respectively to the rabi and kharif phases of most 

 Indian cultivated plants. In the Botanical Magazine (1879, xxxv., 3rd. ser., No. 

 6440) is given a beautiful illustration, and description by Sir J. D. Hooker of a 

 form of Cajntms which was grown at the Royal Gardens, Kew, from seed 

 supplied from Calcutta by Sir George King. This proved to be botanically an 

 intermediate form that broke down the specific distinctions of C. flaviiH and 

 c. bicolor. Subsequent writers accordingly accepted these as but varieties 

 of one species. In the plant grown at Kew the flowers were pure yellow, and the 



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