236 xlvii. § PAPiLiONACEiE (baker). [Ecastaphyllum. 



74t. ECASTAPHYLLUM, Rich. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. 

 Plant, i. 545. 



Calyx with the two upper teeth broader and the lowest rather longer 

 than the others. Standard broad-ovate or orbicular ; wings oblong ; 

 keel slightly incurved, obtuse, its petals connate at the apex on the back. 

 Stamens all connate in a sheath slit above, or the upper one free or 

 absent, or the sheath also slit below or the lowest sometimes also free j 

 anthers small, erect, the cells dehiscing by a small apical slit. Ovary 

 stalked, biovulate ; style almost straight ; stigma small, terminal. Pod 

 orbicular or broad-oblong, flat or corky, indehiscent, 1-seeded, sub- 

 marginate at the upper suture. — Loosely branched or sarmentose 

 shrubs. 



A small genus ; all the species American ; two also West African. 



Leaflets solitary 1. E. Brownei. 



Leaflets 3-5 2. E. monetaria. 



1. E. Brownei, Pers. ; PC. Prod. ii. 420. A shrub 12-20 ft. high, 

 with firm woody terete purplish -black branches, thinly silky when 

 young. Petioles J— § in. long, firm, woody; leaves simple, oblong, 

 3-4 in. long by about half as broad, blunt or pointed, the base rounded, 

 texture coriaceous, both sides glabrous, or the lower when young thinly 

 silky. Flowers in small cymose panicles 1-2 in. long in the axils of the 

 leaves. Pedicels a line long. Calyx campanulate, J in. deep, thinly 

 silky, the teeth short, deltoid. Corolla white, more than twice as long 

 as the calyx. Stamens 10, in two bundles of five each. Pod nearly 

 round, short- stalked, l-lj in. broad, finally J-§ in. thick, subligneous. 

 — Guill. et Perr. Fl. Seneg. 232 ; Benth. I.e. 50. Amerimnum Sieberi^ 

 Rich, in Sieber PI. Exsicc. 36. Pterocarpus Ecastaphyllum, Linn. Sp. 

 1052. 



Upper Guinea. Sierra Leone, Afzelius! Senegambia, Sieber! Perrottet ! and 

 others. Guinea proper, Vogel! Barter! Mylne! Fernando Po, Mann! 

 Lower Guinea. Congo, Prof. Smith ! 

 In Tropical America, from Florida to South Brazil. 



2. E. monetaria, Pers. ; DC. Prod. ii. 421. Stems firm, woody, 

 terete, wide-climbing, glabrous. Petioles \ in. or less long ; leaves 

 rarely simple, 7-8 in. long, 3-4 in. broad ; leaflets usually 3-5, oblong, 

 4-6 in. long, the base rounded, the point narrowed, coriaceous, both sides 

 glabrous. Flowers in small panicles in the axils of the leaves. Calyx 

 and corolla as in Sp. 1, but the stamens 9 only. Pod roundish, oblong, 

 blunt at both ends, 1-1 J in. long, not so much thickened as in the pre- 

 ceding, dark brown, subligneous. 



Upper Guinea. Sierra Leone, Afzelius ! Senegamhia, -Heudelot ! 



In America, from the West Indies to Brazil. According to Bentham, 1. c. E. Richardi 

 and Plumieri, Pers., E. Berterii, DC, E. hygrophilam and nitidum, Mart., and E. 

 Benthamianum, Miq., are not distinct. 



