Eriosema.'] LEGUMiNOSiE. 91 



21. ERIOSEMA, DC. 



Calyx campanulate, 5-lobed. Standard from broadly obovate to oblong, 

 usually with inflexed auricles at the base, and without callosities, or rarely 

 with 2 obliquely transverse callosities inside. Upper stamen free from the 

 base. Ovary sessile, with 2 ovules. Style glabrous, usually slightly thickened 

 above the middle. Pod flattened, obliquely orbicular or broadly oblong. Seeds 

 2 (or 1), oblong, obliquely transverse ; the funiculus attached at one end of the 

 long linear hilum. — Herbs or undershrubs, erect, prostrate, or sometimes 

 twining, the resinous dots less conspicuous than in RhyncJiosia. Leaflets 3 

 or 1, without stipelke. Inflorescence and flowers nearly of RhyncJiosia, but 

 the standard more frequently villous outside. 



A considerable genus, most of the species dispersed over tropical America and tropical and 

 southern Africa, with a single Asiatic one. 



1. EL chinense, Vog. in PI. Meyen. 31. Rhizome a perennial oblong tuber. 

 Stems erect, i to 1 foot high, branching at the base only, more or less hirsute 

 with long rufous hairs, intermixed with a short pubescence. Leaves simple 

 (leaflets solitary), nearly sessile, from oblong-lanceolate to linear, 1 to 2 in. long, 

 with a few long hairs sprinkled on the upper surface and the veins of the 

 lower one, otherwise glabrous above, hoary or glaucous underneath. Peduncles 

 axillary, 2 to 3 lines long, 1- or 2- rarely 3-flowered. Petals yellow?, about 

 4 lines long, the standard obovate, with transverse callosities inside. Pod 4 to 

 6 lines long, 3 to 4 lines broad, covered with long rusty hairs. — Pyrrliotri- 

 cliia tuberosa, W. and Arn. Prod. PI. Penins. i. 238. 



Victoria Peak, Champion and others. Frequent in the hilly districts of northern India, 

 also in Ceylon, Burmah, S. China, the Philippines, and tropical Australia. 



22. PYCWOSPORA, Br. 



Calyx small, campanulate, 4-cleft, the upper lobe bifid. Petals nearly equal 

 in length, the standard broad, the wings cohering to the keel. Upper stamen 

 free from the base. Ovary with several ovules. Pod turgid, tranversely veined, 

 with several seeds. 



A genus of a single species, with the habit, foliage, and nearly the flowers of a Desmodium, 

 and the pod nearly of a Crotalaria. 



1. P. hedysaroides, R. Br. ; W. and Arn. Prod. Fl. Penins. i. 197. — 

 Stock perennial, with several decumbent or ascending branched stems, 1 to 2 

 ft. long, and pubescent or hairy. Leaves nearly those of Desmodium concin- 

 num. Leaflets 3, obovate or obovate-oblong, the terminal one in some speci- 

 mens scarcely % in., in others above 1 in. long, the lateral ones usually smaller. 

 Plowers very small, in short terminal slender racemens. Pod 3 to 4 lines long, 

 oblong, turgid, slightly pubescent, marked with very fine transverse veins. 

 Seeds 6 or 8, small, reniform. — P. nervosa, W. and Arn. Prod. PL Penins. i. 

 197. 



Hongkong, Champion, Wright. Also in Ceylon, the Peninsula of India, Burmah, Silhet, 

 S. China, the Philippines, and tropical Australia. 



23. ABRUS, Linn. 

 Calyx campanulate, truncate or shortly and broadly 4- or 5 -toothed. Stan- 

 dard ovate, adhering at the base to the staminal tube. Keel-petals united from 



