294 CALYCIFLORJE. 



1. Mucuna urens. Yellow-flowered Cowitch. 



Flowers racemose, legumes with transverse lamel- 

 lar furrows stinging^ leaflets nitido-sericeous beneath. 



Phaseolus Brasilianus frutescens, lobis villosis pungentibus 

 maximis, Sloane, I. 178. Zoophthalmum siliquis majoribus 

 hirtis transverse sulcatis, Browne, 295. Dolichos urens, Jacq. 



Amer. 202. t. 182. f. 84 Stizolobium urens, Pers. Ench. II. 



299 Mucuna urens, De Cand. II. 405. 



HAB. Not so common as the second species. Near Shroe- 

 ter's Fording, St Andrew's mountains. Bath, St Thomas in 

 the East. 



FL. May. 



Ascending to a great height. Racemes of 12-18 flowers, 

 umbellated, pendulous : peduncle about 3 inches in length, seri- 

 ceo-pubescent : pedicels rather more than half an inch in length, 

 slightly compressed, situated at the extremity of the peduncle, 

 all of them of nearly the same length, giving an umbellated 

 appearance to the raceme. Bracteas roundish, concave. Flow- 

 ers large, yellow. Calyx nerved, ventricose, stinging-pubes- 

 cent externally. Ovary hairy ; hairs shining, of an orange 

 tinge : stigma obtuse, surrounded with white hairs. Legume 

 about 36 inches long transversely ribbed by prominent lamel- 

 lar furrows, covered partially with stinging brownish hairs : 

 the seeds which are large, orbicular, compressed, and encircled 

 by the hilum, receive the name of yeux bourrique, asses' eyes, 

 from the French colonists, and of horse-eye bean from the Eng- 

 lish. They have many virtues ascribed to them by the super- 

 stitious. 



2. Mucuna pruriens. Purple-flowered Cowitch. 



Flowers racemose, legumes stinging, valves slightly 

 keeled, the leaflets acuminate hirsute beneath, mid- 

 dle one rhomboideal lateral ones externally dilated. 

 De Cand. 



Phaseolus utriusque Indiae lobis villosis pungentibus minor, 

 Sloane, I. 37. Stizolobium spicis multis pendulis alaribus, 

 floribus ternis, Browne, 290. Dolichos pruriens, Linn. Spec. 

 1020. Jacq. Amer. 201. pi. 122. 



HAB. Common in waste land, and in neglected cane pieces. 

 Along river courses and upon fences. 



FL. November, December. 



Stem herbaceous, terete, twining. Leaflets ovate, obtuse, 

 apiculated, villous, with pungent hairs ; the two lateral leaflets 

 unequally divided by the midrib, i. e. the lower portion is the 

 largest: petiole 6 inches, terete, striated, pubescent. Stipules 



