FABACE.K, OR LEGUMINOS^. 



papilionaceous ; vexillum ovate. Stamens 9, monadelphous, co- 

 hering at the base with the claw of the vexillum, the 10th 

 wanting. Style short. Stigma capitate. Legume oblong, 

 compressed, 4 6- seeded. Seeds roundish, separated by cellular 

 partitions. Twining or diffuse shrubs. Leaves abruptly pin- 

 nated, with many pairs of leaflets. Pedicels springing several 

 together from large alternate, terete, glandular tubercles along 

 the racemes. W. and A. 



522. A. precatorius Linn. syst. 533. Roxb.fl. ind. iii. 258. 

 D C. prodr. ii. 381 . W. and A. i. 236. Glycine Abrus Linn, 

 sp. pi 1025. {Rheede viii. t. 39. Humph, v. t. 32.). Various 

 parts of India, whence it is thought to have been carried to Africa 

 and America. 



Stem woody, twining ; bark smooth j young shoots with a few white 

 depressed hairs. Leaves alternate, abruptly pinnate, from 2 to 6 inches 

 long. Leaflets opposite, sub-sessile, from 8 to 15 pairs, linear-oblong, 

 smooth, entire, both ends obtuse, the lower pairs smaller. Stipules of 

 the leaves lanceolate, of the leaflets minute. Racemes axillary, solitary, 

 long-stalked ; their peduncle horizontal, thick, and strong, often leaf- 

 bearing. The raceme or flower-bearing part, erect, secund, with the 

 apex projecting in a curve. Flowers numerous, short-stalked, inserted 

 on 2 rows of large, alternate, round, glandular tuberosities, growing on 

 the exterior side of the raceme, pretty large, and of a pale pink colour. 

 Calyx campanulate, obscurely 5-toothed. Vexillum ovate ; sides de- 

 flected ; apex ascending, the length of the wings ; wings falcate, pro- 

 jecting horizontally ; keel cymbiform, the length of the other petals. 

 Filaments 9, united into a cylinder, with a fissure on the upper side, 

 the distinct portions erect, and alternately shorter. Anthers ovate, 

 small. Ovary minute, hid in the base of the tube of the stamens. 

 Ovary hairy ; style very short ; stigma headed. Legume of a long 

 rhomboidal shape, protuberant at the seeds, divided by transverse 

 membranes, into as many cells as there are seeds. Seeds generally 4 

 or 5, spherical, smooth, of a bright shining red, or white, with a black 

 mark at the eye, or more rarely black with a white eye. Root 

 employed both in the East and West Indies as a substitute for Liquorice. 

 The leaves also have a similar taste, and an extract, resembling that of 

 the Liquorice, and an infusion, much used as a diluent drink, may be 

 prepared from them. The seeds have been incorrectly characterised 

 by Dr. Patrick Browne, as very deleterious ; 2 or 3, according to 

 Herman, an author from whom he quotes, being a mortal dose. They 

 are on the contrary, perfectly innocuous, and though hard and indi- 

 gestible, form, according to Prosper Alpinus, an article of food in 

 Egypt. Macfadyen. 



PHASEOLUS. 



Calyx campanulate, 5-toothed ; or bilabiate, the upper lip 

 2-toothed, the lower 3-partite. Corolla papilionaceous : keel, 

 with the stamens and style, spirally twisted or circinnate. Le- 

 gume compressed or cylindrical, 2-valved, many-seeded, with 

 more or less conspicuous cellular partitions between the seeds. 



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