Ery 



lorxr 





Erythrina.] XXXI. LEGUMINOS.E. 141 



lary, on long peduncles ; flowers large, of a vivid scarlet, in fascicles of 3, 

 each fascicle supported by a deciduous, ovate bract ; pedicels J in. long. 

 Calyx campanulate, truncate, indistinctly 5-toothed. Standard obovate, 

 boat-shaped, claw J in. long ; wings a little shorter than keel, obovate ; 

 petals of keel free at the base and apex, semiovate. Legumes stalked, 

 brown-tomentose, pendulous, incurved, cuspidate, with 2-10 seeds. 



Outer Himalaya from the Ganges to Sikkim, at elevations between 4000 and 

 6500 ft. Kasia hills. Occasionally planted in Sindh and elsewhere. A small 

 tree, fl. Aug. -Oct. 



This is probably the tree which Madden calls E. strictd; but E. stricta, Roxb., 

 Bedd. Fl. Sylv. t. 175, with spathaceous calyx and minute wings, is a different 

 species of the western coast. 



A herbaceous species, E. resupinata, Roxb. Fl. Ind. 257, PI. Cor. t. 220, is 

 found on grass-lands of the Himalayan Terai. From a perennial underground 

 root-stock, spring in March short racemes with large bright scarlet flowers, 

 calyx 2-lipped, and standard resupinate that is, bent downwards. After the 

 flowers, appears a short herbaceous, leaf-bearing stem, which withers after the 

 rains. 



10. PUERARIA, DC. 



Twining shrubs, with large pinnately trifoliolate, stipellate leaves. 

 Flowers blue or purplish, racemose. Two upper calyx-lobes connate into 

 an entire or bidentate lip. Standard rotundate, with basal auricles ; wings 

 oblong- or obovate-falcate, usually connate with the nearly straight or in- 

 curved keel-petals. Vexillary stamen wholly free, or cohering with the 

 rest at the middle ; anthers uniform. Ovary sessile, multiovulate ; stigma 

 small, capitellate. Pod flat or subterete, continuous, or septate between 

 the seeds, membranous or coriaceous. Seeds rotundate or transversely 

 oblong. 



1. P. tuberosa, DC; Wight Ic. t. 412 ; W. & A. Prodr. 205. Syn. 

 Hedysarum tuberosum, Roxb. Fl. Ind. iii. 363. Vern. SidM, saloha, 

 badar, Pb. ; Bilai hand, billi, birali, pona, Kamaon. 



A twining shrub, with woody tubercled stems, running over high trees. 

 Leaves large, trifoliolate, pubescent ; common petiole 5-8 in. long ; leaf- 

 lets 4-6 in. long, 3-5 in. broad, ovate, acuminate, the two lateral unequal- 

 sided. Flowers bright blue, in long panicled racemes. Legumes flat, 

 covered with long rusty hairs, 2-3 in. long, 2-6-seeded, much contracted 

 between the seeds. 



Sub-Himalayan tract, from the Indus to Sikkim, ascending to 4000 ft. Oudh 

 forests. Bengal, the Konkan, Canara. Leafless during the cold and hot season. 

 Fl. March, April. The large tuberous roots are eaten ; they are also used for 

 poultices and as a cooling medicine ; from Kamaon they are exported to the 

 plains. 



11. BUTE A, Roxb. 



Trees or large climbers, with trifoliolate leaves. Leaflets stipellate, the 

 2 lateral opposite. Flowers large, orange-coloured, in fascicles of 2-5, 

 arranged in racemes or panicles, with linear, deciduous bracts. Calyx 

 silky inside ; the 2 upper teeth connate into a broad, entire, or emarginate 



