PULSE FAMILY. 103 



more healthful and agreeable, if not a more profitable, employment. 

 The indigo-plant is said to be annual, when subject to inundations, 

 as on the delta of the Ganges ; but it is sometimes fruticose yielding 

 one or two ratoon crops (i. e. successive growths of suckers, or sprouts), 

 after having been cut off. Another species I. ANIL, L. is said to 

 be also cultivated at the South. It differs from the above chiefly in its 

 flattened, even (not torulose) pods. 



8. 01' GEE, Tournef. CHICK-PEA. 



[The Latin name for a species of Vetch ; applied to this genus.] 



Calyx somewhat gibbous at base, 5-parted ; segments acuminate, 



the upper ones incumbent on the vexillum. Legume turgid, 2-seeded. 



Seeds gibbous. 



1. 0. ARIETI'NUM, L. Leaves odd-pinnate; leaflets cuneate-obovate, 



serrate ; stipules lanceolate, subdenticulate ; calyx slightly gibbous, 



the segments as long as the wings of the corolla. 



RAM CICER. Coffee-pea. Chick-pea. Garavances. 



Fr. Le Pois Chiche. Germ. Gemeine Kicher. Span. Garbanzo. 



Whole plant canescent and glandular-pilose, the hairs secreting oxalic acid. Root 

 annual. Stem 9-18 inches high, branching. Leaflets about half an inch long, in 4-6 

 pairs (often alternate) with a terminal odd one instead of a tendril. Flowers axillary , 

 solitary, white. Seed gibbous, pointed in form resembling the head of a sheep and 

 hence the specific name. 



Gardens: cultivated. Native of Europe and the East. Fl. July - September. Fr. 

 August -October. 



Obs. This is sometimes cultivated for the seeds which are said to 

 be a tolerable substitute for coffee. The seeds are much used, as food 

 for horses, &c. in India, being very abundant (as I recollect to have 

 seen it) in the Bazaars at Calcutta, under the name of " Gram." This 

 vetch is the " Hamoos Pea '' which is announced as a novelty, or a great 

 curiosity (discovered among the Arabs) in LYXCH'S Expedition to the 

 Dead Sea ; though it has been familiarly known in the gardens, through- 

 out the civilized world, ever since the days of Tournefort if not of 

 Homer ! So much for the penny-wise policy of sending out Exploring 

 Expeditions unaccompanied by competent Naturalists. 



9. AEA'CHIS, L. PEANUT. 



[An ancient name of obscure meaning.] 



Dmciously polgyamous. The sterile and fertile flowers produced together 

 in the axils ; the STERILE, most numerous in the upper axils, with a 

 slender calyx tube, the limb bilabiate, the upper lip 4-toothcd, the lower 

 entire. Stamens monadelphous (9 united and 1 abortive,) ovary mi- 

 nute, abortive. FERTILE FL. without ealj x, corolla, or stamens. Ovary 

 on an elongating stipe by which it is thrust under ground, where it ma- 

 tures as an oblong obtuse terete pod, the indehiscent valves becoming 

 thickened and somewhat woody, reticulately veined on the surface. 



