36 FLORA OF JAMAICA Desmodium 



glabrescent on the upper surface, 2-9(-15) cm. 1. Calyx 1-5 mm. 1. 

 Corolla 3-4 mm. 1., white. Pod curved, lower margin indented beyond 

 the middle.] 



5. D. purpupeum comh. nov. (non Hook. & Am.) ; stem erect, 

 more or less hispid with long hairs and short laooked hairs; 

 leaflets 3 ; stipules semicordate, acuminate ; flowers in lax 

 terminal and axillary racemes or panicles ; pod twisted, indented 

 equally from both margins ; joints 6-2, net-veined, about 4 mm. 1. 

 — D. tortuosum DC. Prodr. ii. 332 (1825); Macf. Jam. L 266; 

 Griseh. op. cit. 188; Urh. torn. cit. 293. Hedysarum triphyllum 

 fruticosum, flore &c. Sloane Gat. 73 & Hist. i. 184,' t. 116, /. 2. 

 H. caulescens &c. Browne Hist. Jam. 301. H. purpureum 

 Miller Gard. Diet. ed. 8 (1768). H. tortuosum Sw. Prodr. 107 

 ■(1788) & Fl. Ind. Occ. 1271. Meibomia purpurea Vail in Small 

 Fl. S. E. U. States 639 (1903). Miller's specimen from Vera 

 Oruz from Houstoun, on which he founded the species, is in 

 Herb. Mus. Brit. 



Common ; in fl. after rains in May and Oct. ; Sloane Herb. iii. 86 ! 

 Houstoun ; Macfadyen ! Liguanea, St. Andrew, McNab ! Wullschlaegel ; 

 Liguanea plain, CampfteZn Plato road, 3500 ft. ; Hope grounds; Harris \ 

 Ward's Rock, 700 ft. ; Devon Pen, 300 ft. ; Thompson 1 Fl. Jam, 6992, 6668, 

 6857, 7921, 7963, 8030.— Florida, West Indies as far south as Grenada, 

 Central America, northern South America. 



Stem 2-4 ft. high. Leaflets ovate-lanceolate, or narrowly elliptical, 

 hispid, densely along the margins and sparingly on both surfaces and the 

 nerves, 2-11 cm. 1. Pedicels 2 or 3 together, much longer than the flowers, 

 1-1 "5 cm. 1. Calyx about 3 mm. 1. Corolla of a pale azure or purplish 

 colour, about 4 mm. 1. Pod about 2 (1-5-2 -3) cm. 1., puberulous with 

 minute hooked hairs. 



6. D. proeumbens Hitchcoch in Pep. Miss. Bot. Gard. iv. 76 

 (1893) ; stem procumbent and rooting at the base, then ascending, 

 puberulous or glabrate, branches diff"use ; leaflets 3 (rarely 1); 

 stipules broad at the base, setaceous ; flowers in long lax slender 

 terminal racemes or panicles ; pod twisted permanently, indented 

 equally from both margins ; joints 8-2, orbicular to rhomboid, 

 net-veined, about 4 mm. 1. — T>. spirale DG. Prodr. ii. 332 (1825) ; 

 Benth. torn. cit. 105; Macf. Jam. i. 271; Griseh. loc. cit.; Urh. 

 loc. cit. Hedysarum proeumbens, Miller loc. cit. (1768), H. spirale 

 Sw. Prodr. 107 (1788) & Fl. Ind. Occ. 1273. Meibomia spiralis 

 Kuntze tom. cit. 197 (1891). Type in Herb. Mus. Brit. 



In fl. towards the end of the year; Lane in Herb, Sloane clxii. 771 

 Houstoun ! Wright 1 Masson 1 Macfadyen ! Distin ! Kingston, Prior ! Hope 

 grounds, Harris ! Kingston, Lucea, Hitchcock ; Fl. Jam. 6637, 6964, 11,852. 



West Indies, tropical continental America, tropical Africa, East Indies, 



Pacific Islands. 



Stem 1-4 ft. in length, slender, spreading on the ground, or supported 

 by shrubs. Leaflets variable, ovate, lanceolate, oblong, or elliptical, 

 minutely hispidulous or glabrous, 1-3 (-6) cm. 1., sometimes with a light- 

 greyish streak down the centre. Racemes or panicles 1-2-5 dm. 1. 



