30 Leguminosce. \Tephrosia. 



8.TEPHROSIA, Pers. 



Perennial herbs or low shrubs, 1. imparipinnate, with 

 setaceous (rarely spinous) stip. and oblong lflts., fl. in leaf- 

 opposed racemes or few axillary ; cal. campanulate, segm. 

 nearly equal, acuminate ; keel-pet. not beaked ; stam. diadel- 

 phous, anth. uniform ; style much curved, filiform or flat- 

 tened ; pod linear, flat, dehiscent, many-seeded, without septa 

 between the seeds. — Sp. ioo ; 10 in Fl. B. Ind. 



Stipules spinous i. T. SPINOSA. 



Stipules not spinous. 



Pod slightly pilose or silky. 

 Lflts. unequal. 



Fl. axillary .... 

 Fl. in racemes 

 Lflts. nearly equal. 

 Seeds 5 or 6 . 



Seeds 11-14 .... 

 Pod densely hairy. 



Pod about 2 in., nearly straight 

 Pod. 1 \ in., distinctly falcate . 



2. T. SENTICOSA. 



3. T. TINCTORIA. 



4. T. PURPUREA. 



5. T. MAXIMA. 



6. T. HOOKERIANA. 



7. T. VILLOSA. 



i. T. spinosa, Pers. Syn. PI. ii. 330 (1807). 



Thw. Enum. 411. 



Fl. B. Ind. ii. 112. Wight, Ic. t. 372. 



A small spreading shrub with rigid divaricate branches, 

 silvery-grey with adpressed hair ; 1. small, rachis ^-f in., 

 pubescent, stip. sharply spinous, persistent, becoming woody, 

 lflts. 2-4 pair and end one, very shortly stalked, nearly equal, 

 obovate-oblong, strongly mucronate, silky on both surfaces, 

 more or less conduplicate ; fl. rather small, on slender ped., 

 solitary or 2 or 3 in axils of 1.; cal. hairy, segm. sharply 

 acuminate; pod 1-1^ in., linear, slightly falcate, pendulous, 

 mucronate, thinly silky, 5-7-seeded. 



Dry region ; very rare. Near Giant's Tank, Mannar District, 1890. 

 The locality given in Thw. Enum. is ' North of the Island, Mr. W. 

 Ferguson ; ' and Mr. F. informed me that the specimens were sent to him 

 from Aripo in 1859 by the late Dr. Charsley. Fl. Jan.-Feb. ; pink. 



Also in S. India and Java. 



A common bazaar drug under the Tamil name of ' Mukavalliver.' 



2. T. senticosa. Pers. Syn. PL ii. 330 (1807). 

 Herm. Mus. 12 and 14. Fl. Zeyl. n. 303. Cracca senticosa, L. Sp. PI. 

 752. W. and A. Prod. 212. Trim, in Journ. Linn. Soc. xxiv. 148. 

 Fl. B. Ind. ii. 112. Wight, Ic. t. 370. 



A low shrub with numerous divaricate hoary branches ; 

 lflts. 1-3 pair and an end one (which is much the largest), 

 1-2 in., obovate-oblong, emarginate, nearly glabrous above, 



