32 FLORA OF JAMAICA Desmodium 



cluster opposite the leaves. Calyx : tube short ; 2 upper lobes or 

 teeth more or less united, 3 lower acute or acuminate. Standard 

 obovate or roundish. Uppermost stamen united with the sheath 

 or more or less free. Pod compressed, with flat joints, usually 

 not opening, but splitting along the lower margin in D. gyrans^ 

 and the joints tardily opening in D. trijlorum and D. barhatum. 



Species 1 50, widely dispersed through tropical and subtropical 

 regions, some in N. America, a few in S. America, the Cape, 

 and Australia, but none in New Zealand, nor in Europe, nor 

 temperate Asia. 



Leaf-stalks not winged. 

 Flowers in lax racemes or panicles. 

 Pod indehiscent. 

 Upper margin of legume continuous. 



Leaflets roundish-elliptical 1. D. adscendens 



Leaflets oblong- elliptical, whitish beneath... 2. D. supimcm. 

 Upper margin of legume slightly notched. 

 Leaflets 8. » 



Stem 3-cornered with hooked hairs 3. Z>. intortum. 



Stem terete. 



Stem trailing, rooting 4. D. axillare. 



[Erect shrub D. cajanifolium.} 



[Leaflet 1 D. gangeticum.'] 



Both margins of legume equally notched. 

 Joints of legume equal and fertile. 

 Joints roimdish to rhomboid. 



Stem erect. Stipules semicordate 5. D. ptirpicretmi. 



Stem procumbent. Stipules not semi- 

 cordate 6. D. procumbens. 



Joints linear-oblong 7. D. scorpiurus. 



Joints only 2, one small sterile, the other 



larger fertile 8. D. moUe. 



[Pod dehiscing along the lower margin. Lateral 



leaflets small, moving by jerks D. gyrans.'] 



Flowers 2-4 in clusters opposite a leaf or in axil 



of leaf 9. D. iriflorum. 



Flowers crowded in dense corymbose terminal 

 racemes. 



Calyx hirsute 10. D. barbatum. 



[Flowers numerous in axillary umbels. 



Branches terete D. umbellatum.'] 



Branches 3-angled D. cephalotes.'] 



[Leaf-stalks winged ; leaflet 1 D. triquetrum.'] 



1. D. adscendens PC. Prodr.n. 332(1825); stems decumbent, 

 with diffuse ascending branches; leaflets 3, roundish-elliptical; 

 stipules free from one another ; flowers in lax racemes ; upper 

 margin of pod continuous, joints 2-5 (-7), semielliptical or semi- 

 circular, 4-5 mm. 1. — Benth. in Fl. Bras. xv. pt. 1, 97; Griseh. 

 Fl. Br. W. Ind. 186; Urb. Symb. Ant. iv. 290. D. ellipticum 

 Macf. Jam. i. 268 (1837). Hedysarum repens Miller Gard. Diet, 

 ed. 8 (1768) (non L.). H. adscendens Sw. Prodr. 106 (1788) & 



