TEPHROSIA. 



504. T. Senna HBK. vi.458. DC. ii. 253. Popayan, on the 

 banks of the river Cauca. 



Branches somewhat angular, smooth. Leaflets in 4 pairs, obovate- 

 oblong, emarginate, mucronate, slightly downy and glaucous. Racemes 

 opposite the leaves, 1-leaved at the base. Flowers in fascicles. Legumes 

 nearly erect, and the calyxes rough with down. Leaves used instead 

 of Senna by the people of Popayan. 



505. T. toxicaria Pers. synops. ii. 328. DC.prodr. ii. 249. 

 Macfady.fl.jam. i. 225. Galega toxicaria Swartzfl. ind. 1278. 

 Tussac^fl. antill. t. 20. (Plum. ic. t. 135.) Cayenne; com- 

 mon in Jamaica ; supposed to be of African origin. 



An erect shrubby plant, 4-5 feet high ; extremities of the branches 

 angular-furrowed, covered with brown down. Leaflets stalked, nearly 

 2 inches in length, and 4 lines broad ; stipules subulate, J- of an inch 

 in length. Racemes terminal : axis triangular, velvety. Flowers 

 shortly pedicelled, in clusters of 4-6, white with a purplish tinge. 

 Calyx bilabiate, with acute divisions ; upper lip 2-fid ; under 3-partite. 

 Standard externally covered with a brown silky pubescence. Stamens 

 sub-monadelphous, i. e. the 10th stamen adhering to the rest for only a 

 short distance above the base. Legume sessile, 2-3 inches long: seeds 

 oblong, light brown, variegated with black. Employed in Jamaica for 

 the purpose of poisoning fish in rivers. The young branches with the 

 leaves pounded, and sometimes mixed with quick lime, are thrown into 

 a pool of some mountain stream, and have an almost immediate effect. 

 The fish are observed to become stupified, and as it were intoxicated, 

 and to rise to the surface, floating there with their belly upwards, so as 

 to be readily taken by the hand. It has been remarked that the larger 

 fish recover gradually from the effects of the poison, but that the 

 younger fry perish. The practice has therefore been generally discoun- 

 tenanced. It has been suggested that the action of the plant upon the 

 human system would resemble that of Digitalis, and might prove, in a 

 climate where that plant does not grow, a desirable substitute. As the 

 roots of Tephrosia leptostachya, and the leaves of T. Senna, are purga- 

 tive, it is probable that the plant before us may act as an evacuant, 

 combined with some peculiar depressing influence on the nervous 

 system. Macfadyen. 



SABINEA. 



Calyx cup-shaped, campanulate, truncate and nearly entire. 

 Corolla papilionaceous ; keel very blunt, rather shorter than the 

 vexillum, compelling the stamens to roll up in a gyrate manner. 

 Stamens diadelphous ; the free one and 4 others half as short 

 again as the remainder. Style filiform, smooth, rolled up with 

 the stamens. Legume stipitate, compressed, linear, long, many- 

 seeded, mucronate with the style. West Indian unarmed 

 shrubs. Leaves abruptly pinnated ; leaflets smooth, mucronate. 

 Pedicels fascicled, 1 -flowered. Flowers purplish. DC. 



506. S. florida DC. prodr. ii. 263. Robinia florida Vahl 

 symb. iii. p. 89. t. 70. The West India islands of St. John, St. 

 Thomas, Tortola and Crab island. 



245 R 3 



