Mucuna.] xlvii. § papilionace^e (baker). 185 



variously costate or lamellate. — Climbing herbs or shrubs (one species 

 erect) with pinnately trifoliolate stipellate leaves, the lateral leaflets very 

 unequal- sided. 



A moderately small genus, widely dispersed through the tropics. 

 § Citta. Pod transversely lamellate. 

 Pods armed with stinging bristles. 



Flowers in capitate heads on sbort firm peduncles ... 1. M. urens. 

 Flowers in elongated racemes on very long slender pe- 

 duncles 2. M.flagellipes. 



Pods without stinging bristles 3. M. cylindrosperma. 



§§ Carpopogon. Pods with a pair of broad wings at the 



upper and lower sutures 4. M. quadrialata. 



§§§ Stizolobium. Pods neither winged nor lamellate. 

 Climbers. 



Flowers in ample racemes 5. M. melanocarpa. 



Flowers in capitate heads. 



Calyx 3-4 lines deep, leaves herbaceous 6. M. pruriens. 



Calyx 6-8 lines deep, leaves coriaceous 7. M. coriacea. 



An erect much-branched shrub 8. M. stans. 



1. M. urens, DC. Prod. ii. 405. Stem woody, slender, wide-climb- 

 ing', the young* shoots thinly adpressed-silky. Stipules small, lanceo- 

 late, deciduous. Petioles 4—5 in. long", firm, subglabrous • leaflets 3, 

 papyraceous, central one ovate- oblong, 3—5 in. long, cuspidate- pe- 

 tiolule an inch long • lateral ones usually larger and very unequal- 

 sided, upper surface with a few deciduous adpressed bristly hairs, lower 

 permanently finely shining grey-silky.. Flowers in capitate heads on 

 firm axillary peduncles. Bracteoles cymbiform, grey-silvery, an inch 

 or more long, deciduous. Pedicels 3-4 lines long, cernuous. Calyx 

 broad-campanulate, J-| in. deep, silvery and scattered over with de- 

 ciduous yellow, bristles • upper lip rounded, entire ; lower trifid with 

 the central tooth longer than the others reaching a quarter down. 

 Corolla sulphur-yellow, the wings and broad keel 2 in. or more long, 

 the standard much shorter. Pod oblong, 5-6 in. long, 1J— If in. broad, 



, nearly straight, with close broad irregular coriaceous undulated lamel- 

 lations 1-3 lines broad, and yellow bristly hairs in the hollows. Seeds 

 2-3. — Benth. in Mart. Fl. Bras. xxiv. t. 46, fig. 1. Stizolobium urens, 

 Pers. Syn. ii. 299. 



Upper Guinea. Guinea proper, Thonning, G. Don! Darter! Fernando Po, 

 Vogel! Mann! 



Cosmopolitan in the tropics. 



2. M. flagellipes, Vogel in Hook. Fl. Nigr. 307. Stems firm, 

 slender, glabrous, wide-twining, climbing to a length of 60 or 70 ft. 

 Stipules small, lanceolate, deciduous. Petioles 4-5 in. long, firm, 

 slender, glabrous • leaflets subcoriaceous, the central one ovate-oblong-, 

 3-6 in. long, 2-3 in. broad, cuspidate or acuminate, the base rounded ; 

 petiolule 1J in. long ; the lateral ones larger and very unequal-sided, 

 both sides glabrous. Flowers in lax racemes on a firm zigzag; rachis 

 on firm slender glabrous elongated peduncles sometimes 6 or 7 ft. long. 



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